The Advice I Wish I’d Been Given.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known ten years ago? That’s a powerful prep question for you to imagine what you might need to know in a decade that you could learn now. For example, given that our MEA beachfront campus is in Mexico and I have a home here, I’m finally learning Spanish (yes, I was that odd kid in LA who studied French, which did have one collateral benefit; 8 years after high school, I chose a sexy, unique French name for my boutique hotel company, Joie de Vivre).
Answering the question, I would regret being 68 (10 years from now) and not having started learning Spanish now.
Alternatively, ask yourself what kind of advice do you wish you’d been given as you grew up and matured? I wrote this article about the advice I would give to a 10-year-old, as well as someone 20, 30, 40, and 50. Just writing the article gave me a profound sense that I was cultivating and harvesting my wisdom.
One of the best simple exercises we propose to budding Modern Elders is that they make a list of the five pieces of wisdom they would offer someone a generation or two younger than them. If you want to try this exercise, remember that trite but true advice like “Be yourself; Everyone else is taken” (thanks Oscar Wilde!) doesn’t reflect your unique DNA wisdom. Come up with five examples that distinctly define you and your wisdom journey, something that may even surprise people.
Are you ready to harvest your wisdom and who will be the lucky recipient of your wise bounty?
