"Waste no more time arguing about what a good person should be. Be one."

I like to think I'm a good man because it feels good to believe it about myself. I'm generally humble and kind, generous, courteous and polite - Yes I'm many other things, have done bad things, but in the main these core personality traits are a large part of me and of my daily life. Some see it and some simply have no clue - A person's perception of me is always their reality though I guess and I'm ok with it as I know who I am.

I was thinking about this today, good people and bad, after taking a call from a young lad in Melbourne, a twenty eight year old whom I gave a start in the property industry to when he was twenty one - His first job [in the industry] was in my development company. He called to talk about an opportunity he wanted to offer me.

It seems his former employer, a project sales and project management company in Melbourne, was run by people whose ethics and ethos didn't align with my young friends values and so he left to start his own; A combination of his own drive and ambition and some prompting from some large property developers who valued his skill-set. So, it seems my young friend is going very well, from strength to strength.

We spoke about the opportunity then he began to thank me. A lot. With emotion, humility and meaning.

He feels very beholden to me, grateful for giving him a start when no one else would, and thankful for the lessons I gave him, the understanding of self, ownership and responsibility and industry knowledge that has clearly worked well for him. I was humbled of course as what he has achieved is all him, I just put his feet on the path.

I feel very proud of him and told him so; He has come a long way, overcome extreme adversity and personal tragedy and ignited the spark I saw in him years ago into a fire.

However...I gave him a lesson today.

He was ranting about his former employer; I understand it too, they really did a number on him. He kept going over the same thing out of sheer frustration and whilst venting is appropriate there's a line and he crossed it. So I interrupted him and said a quote, the one you see above...In return I got silence - I knew what that meant as I taught him to do it. He detached from the moment, putting it at arms length so he could see it all, then reset and came back; It took a few seconds or so. Good lad.

He apologised for the rant and I said he didn't need to and a few other words in support.

It was a very cool moment because I saw my own influence from years ago in action - Again, I felt pride in this young chap who could very easily have leaned away from the good and become something else. I like that I had some small part in that journey.

The last thing I said to my friend is to waste no time on things that have no meaning to him moving forward - Control what's controllable and focus his energy on that. I meant it professionally and personally. It's something I focus on and whilst it can be very difficult to do at times if one hits the mark something wondrous happens...Forward progress.

Today was a great day because of the call from my friend - It made me feel happy to know I did something to affect someone's life positively, that the person was so willing and able to show gratitude for what I've done to help him and, better still, that he wasn't above learning a little more despite being very knowledgeable and accomplished in his field; He's a good lad and it was a good day...Plus I look forward to the opportunity he raised; More great days could ensue and it will be good to work with my friend again.