I never talked to them, but I learned a lot through the books that they wrote.
We started from nothing, and some people taught us lessons upon growing up. It might be your parents, your friends, or even your teachers. They are usually the one who helps us in times of difficulty. As we grow, some people can be considered a mentor: the word mentor depends on your definition. For me, a mentor is a person or the person who taught valuable lessons in our life.
Who is—or should I say “are”—the people that I consider my mentor? If you will ask me, they are Robert Kiyosaki, Mark Manson, and James Clear. Yes, they are the authors of the most selling books. At a young age, I decided to read books, and currently, these are the books that I read: Rich dad, poor dad, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, and Atomic Habits.
Robert Kiyosaki taught me about finances. His iconic book Rich dad poor dad was one of the best books that I read. It taught me how to invest rather than save money. He said a job is a short-term solution for a long-term problem. Working for money will make you a slave for life while financial literacy and learning how the money will work for you can make you financially independent.
But of course, losing some money from investing is just part of the process. It is inevitable when it comes to investing so you have to learn risk management. But for a better start, you have to clear your debts first and start increasing your cash flow.
Meanwhile, James Clear taught me how to increase my productivity and start to break my bad habits. I always hear and read the feedback from his book, Atomic Habits, and decided to start reading it. I never had any regrets. My procrastination decreased and improved my performance.
I learned how to spend my day wisely and productively. I also realized that sometimes, I am not busy…for being productive. I am busy procrastinating. This is how I started breaking my bad habits. Although it is hard until now, there is a voice of discipline shouting in my head. I learned how to stick to my goal and keep pursuing it by being productive every day.
Finally, Mark Manson is really one of my favorite. I can say that his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck opened my mind to reality…or should I say it activated my self-awareness and boost my self-esteem. I was always conscious of everything, I overthink every single move that I made. I always think of what other people think about me not until I read his book.
By him, I realized that we should not give a f*ck on everything and to everyone. It gives me self-respect and started to learn about self-development. I work out and exercise, I started dieting, and somehow increase my confidence. The simple things that I can't do before are now easy as ABC. Well, they are literally easy, I'm just the one who thinks it is hard.
I had never seen these people in person, but they gave value to my life through the books that they wrote. I never talked to them, but the words from their book were marked in my mind. I consider them as my mentor because they taught me a lot of lessons in my life; as I said in the introduction, mentors are the one who contributes to our life.
I was not even a fan of reading books, but reading their works made me start building my reading habits wherein I added it to my daily routine. It is also part of the application of what I learned from the book Atomic Habits. These people became a huge part of my life—even indirectly, at least, I learned a lot from them.
Also published on:
- marklaurence.net (this is my website)
- Medium
- read.cash