Life

Seven Observations for My 24 Year-old Self

In the end, your life largely will be what you make it

Published

2 years ago

September 9, 2021

Jeff Davidson

If I only had seven things I could tell myself at age 24; reflecting on all that I’ve learned in observance since then, it might be difficult. Nevertheless, here are seven “gems of wisdom” that I think would help any 24-year-old today, and that certainly would have helped me back then.

1. Stay Positive, it Will Be Okay

Generally speaking, most of the personal concerns that you have at 24 will have long worked themselves out by 30, 35, or 40. Much of what seems to be urgent, or crucial to your future well-being and happiness, proves to be less so with the passage of time. Then, looking back, you think to yourself, why was I so agitated?

2. Maintain Your Health All Along

I’ve had many friends at varying ages, in their 40s, 50s, 60s, who’ve had surgery for this and that, who are limited in mobility, or who have passed away. Health is not something to take lightly even in your mid twenties.

Once you begin the slippery slope towards not maintaining your health, it’s difficult to get it back. If you maintain healthy habits all along, get proper sleep, maintain a good diet, and exercise regularly, even after many decades, you still can be adept at most of what you could do in your 20s.

3. Friends Come and Go

Some stay with you for a lifetime, some are your friends during eras in your life, and some vanish rather quickly. Predictably, somebody who you thought was a close friend will betray you, or abandon you, or otherwise seem distant. You might exert considerable energy seeking to win that friend back, and rarely does it work.

The friends we make by high school and college seem to become more important with each passing year. Yet, you can make good friends, even great friends, at any age. You have to be open to the possibility.

4. Watch Your Finances

The fastest and most effective way to maintain control of your finances is to construct a 12-month cash flow. When you plot your projected income versus your projected expenses, you gain the best picture of your cash position at the end of each month. There is no substitute for doing this.

I have maintained a cash flow projection for myself starting at age 24. Moreover, since becoming an entrepreneur in my mid 30s, and working for myself all these years, my projected cash flow has been an invaluable tool. My daughter adopted the practice after running into some financial difficulties. Now she’s keeps her head financially above water all of the time.

5. Earth Is Fascinating, and Chilling

Altruism, beauty, and grace are all around us, but so is greed, the quest for power, fanaticism, and lust. Some people will do whatever it takes to get what they want: ravage the environment, trample on others, or act as if maintaining what we have for future generations is not important. Such behavior occurs on the left, right, and middle of the political spectrum. Even environmental, civic, and charitable groups are not without their own faux pas. Keep looking for the good in others.

6. Learn to Trust Your Instincts

The intuition and instincts that we’ve developed since we were small lead us well. Many people minimize or ignore their internal feelings in favor of someone else’s opinion, especially in this day and age of social media. However, the wisdom of following “the beat of your own drum” is as good now as ever.

Your brain, heart, and gut all function for you around the clock, and can provide direction without you having to engage in considerable analysis. Once you tap these amazing mechanisms, don’t be surprised if your decision-making capabilities improve. You have it within you.

7. Only You, the Whole Way Through

From now ’til the end of your life, however long it might be, you are the only person who will accompany you every step of the way, on every interview, on every trip, and on every encounter. Your life is a do-it-to-yourself proposition and a work in progress.

Blaming others, or citing nebulous factors that keep you from getting what you want, is a prescription for mediocrity. Fortunately, most people, most of the time, have the power to move from where they are to where they want to be, and so do you.

In the end, your life largely will be what you make it. And that is wonderful news.

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Jeff Davidson is the world's only holder of the title "The Work-Life Balance Expert®" as awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is the premier thought leader on work-life balance, integration, and harmony. Jeff speaks to organizations that seek to enhance their overall productivity by improving the effectiveness of their people. He is the author of Breathing Space, Simpler Living, Dial it Down, and Everyday Project Management. Visit www.BreathingSpace.com for more information on Jeff's keynote speeches and seminars, including: Managing the Pace with Grace® * Achieving Work-Life Balance™ * Managing Information and Communication Overload®

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Elections

Election Fraud is Massive and On-Going in America

Across the U.S., the magnitude of voter fraud that occurs year after year, election after election, is staggering.

Published

11 hours ago

March 29, 2023

Jeff Davidson

Jay DeLancey is founder and president of the North Carolina Voter Integrity Project, and has much to say about voting in America:

Our system begs for transparency at all points along the election process. Who can vote, who did vote, how did they vote, and what was the tally? Today, unfortunately voter fraud is real and of enormous magnitude, as we saw in 2020 and 2022. Nowhere is this more evident than with absentee ballots.

Who, in any voting precinct, literally visits the homes of voters who filed absentee ballots to ensure that they are out of town? Even among those who have a legitimate quest to vote by absentee ballot, who can assure that their vote is counted properly and tallied accurately?

The absentee ballot initiative started as a viable effort to increase the ability of qualified citizens to vote, but has now become into a primary tool of manipulation. The more we can see, the fairer the elections are likely to be. The less we can see, the greater the likelihood that fraud will occur. Centralized absentee ballot collection is exactly the opposite of local voting in a precinct where there’s a chance that those with whom you register or vote alongside are your neighbors.

Ensuring the Rights of Qualified Voters

The local voting precinct is better positioned to spot perpetrators of voter fraud. Local poll workers on the scene are better able to assess if you are not the person you claim to be. They will tell you to leave, but by law that’s all they can do.

They can’t retain someone and hold them until authorities arrive, even in the case of blatant voter impersonation. Why? Because in the 1960s, to safeguard the voting capability of those who had been disenfranchised, laws were passed to reduce the incidence of intimidation, accusation, and retention.

Those times have long passed, and now we need ways of ensuring that qualified voters’ civil rights are upheld. Every time an unqualified voter is allowed to cast a vote, it demeans and diminishes the rights of all citizens. As such, voter fraud is the civil rights crisis of our time.

Fraud Occurs Year After Year

If you hear from anyone or from any group that voter fraud does not exist, or that it’s minimal and inconsequential, rest assured most of these proponents believe they are in the right. As long as you vote for their candidate, they’re content to ignore the magnitude, of voter fraud that actually occurs, year after year, election after election, across the U.S. They know they are ‘right,’ so why forsake their ironclad view that voter integrity groups are secretly voter suppression groups?

We’re always asked, how do you know that voter fraud exists? We have case histories, anecdotes, cross tabulated data, eyewitness testimony, and more. Voter fraud is real and rampant. Yet, we will routinely encounter some academic, usually from some law school, saying, “The science is settled on this. Voter fraud is a myth.”

Professors will proclaim from on high declaring that few people ever engage in voter fraud. Such professors are people of influence, they teach students, write papers, give lectures, attend symposiums, and spew authoritative misinformation. Cognizant or not, the damage that they do to society is ongoing and significant.

A Mortal Threat to Democracy

“The science was settled” in the early 1500s, that the sun rotated around the earth. Copernicus and other brave souls risked death to proclaim that earth was not the center of the universe as we knew it, or even our solar system.

We swim against the tide of what was launched in the 1960s but today has morphed into a mortal threat to democracy. The challenge we all face is to guarantee transparency in elections so that everyone can see the results and, more importantly, accept the results when their candidate does not win.

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Life

Creating a Little Heaven on Earth for Yourself

When you carve out few moments for yourself, the world is a different place

Published

3 days ago

March 26, 2023

Jeff Davidson

What would your life be like if you had the ability to drop back when you wanted or needed to do so? To have time for true rest and relaxation? To have time for quiet reflection?

Despite the pace of change in society, the constant development of new technology, all the paper and information that confronts you on a daily basis, and everything that competes for your time and attention, you have the ever-present opportunity to remain resilient.

Carve It Out

When you carve out even a few moments of breathing space for yourself, the world is a different place; it does not seem so hectic. Often, things work out for the best. You have a sense of control almost independent of your environment.

The feeling of being in control of your life, while acknowledging that you are only a small part in the overall scheme of things, enhances your experience of the world around and within you, every day.

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