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Experiences are events that occur in your life. Having many different experiences can have a positive and meaningful impact on you and the others around you. Stop chasing fame, watches, clothes, and other materialistic items that only lead to disappointment and the more mentality. Before you die you will remember the experiences you had, not items.

I’m fortunate to have had many good and bad life experiences in my life. While you may not cherish the negative ones, these are usually the most valuable when teaching you lessons. In today’s blog I want to focus on the more positive experiences. Like travel, spending time with family and friends, going on that once in a lifetime vacation, enjoying the views at your favorite spot, and more.

I love travelling and seeing new areas. If you can prioritize visiting new places and exploring the unknown you may open your eyes to the amazing world. I’ll include some photos and videos from YouTube from some of my previous travel adventures. Seeing a new place is amazing and it will be something you cherish rather than a new t-shirt or pair of shoes.

Satisfaction is hard to come by in the North-American world. We’re all told to chase your dreams and never be satisfied. While doing what you want in life is important you must take the necessary time each day to be grateful for everything you already have. Chasing the next milestone can lead to fulfillment. You always need to remember where you came from.

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Life has been a wild ride, but it always wasn't so simple. Watch my TED Talk on Life Beyond the Dead Man's Curve.

Book the Trip Instead of the Gifts

I have come to value experiences much more than gifts or anything materialistic. While it is nice to own nice things of quality there is simply more to life. I am now one to book a trip somewhere as a gift rather than providing physical gifts. Spending time with your significant other somewhere special will create more memories than anything else.

While travelling can be costly, if you set a goal to travel to a specific area at this time, I’m sure you will make it happen. Dreaming and planning are two different things and if you want to gain more experience through travel you need a plan of action. Some valuable questions you can ask yourself are; where do I want to go? Who should I go with? Why do I want to go there? How much will it cost? How much can I save each month?

If you can answer some if not all of these questions you will be well on your way to planning a lifetime experience somewhere.

Travelling to different places in the world has given me more perspective and satisfaction in life. The ability to see new places where you’ve never gone before is spectacular. If you save your money and time off for important travel you may have more awesome experiences to share in your life. Meeting new people and discovering how different cultures operate can be helpful in many different areas.

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Learning From Painful Experiences

While fun travel experiences are great and everyone loves being off work and doing nothing… The dark, painful, uncomfortable experiences are the ones where you define who you are. While some of you may be shaking your head in disbelief, hear me out.

I have a story to share with you to see what I’m getting at. Several years ago I worked for a company whose name will stay anonymous. I worked there for nearly 3 years, working non-stop, saying yes to anything and everything they asked, coming in on time off, staying late, putting in 100% effort. I made it a huge effort to show a positive attitude and get along with all my coworkers.

Everything was going well and me and the group were starting to have a solid working relationship together. Just when I thought things were working out great, they changed for the worst. I got called into my bosses office by the owner of the company. They both sat on one side and asked me to sit down across from them. (I had no idea what was going on, nothing came up previous to this and there were zero issues that I knew of).

As I sat there I started to wonder what exactly was happening. Before I could figure it out on my own, the owner started going into the speech. “We like you Chris and you're a great worker, but as the boss sometimes I have to make tough decisions.”

It turns out they were letting me go because of two newer recruits who would be filling in my current position for me. I left that room a few minutes later fully blindsided. I went to my locker and thought what the hell is going on? I told a few of my co-workers what was going on and everyone was in disbelief.

At the time the situation sucked and I was not happy about it at all. I felt betrayed and like all my 3 years of effort went down the drain. In the end, I got a better job, working for a better company, making more money, while working less. Wait what… Exactly.

While it took a bit of time and effort to get a new job in place, it ended out working better than before. Tough experiences like this happen all of the time to people and I’m sure you have many stories as well.

These are the types of experiences that shape you as a person. I could have let the entire situation get to me. I could have given up and said the industry wasn’t for me. I could have made a lot of poor decisions after the fact. The choices you make during tough experiences are choices that will build you into the person you are.

As you can see, experience really is the true master in our lives. You can learn so much valuable information from life experience whether you think it’s a good experience or a bad experience.

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Conclusion

Materialistic items like cars, boats, clothes, and jewelry may be nice to have but they won’t create true satisfaction in your life. Be grateful for what you already have in your life and truly feel fulfilled. Chasing bigger and better jobs, promotions, money, and houses isn’t all bad if you remember where you’ve come from. Take a trip rather than buying useless gifts for someone.

Positive and negative experiences both serve a purpose in your life. Just because you don’t like how the negative experiences end doesn’t mean they don’t add value to your life. Both are powerful to being satisfied and living a joyful life. If you never felt pain how would you know what it feels like to be on top?

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Want a positive and uplifting experience while building your business? Check out the Mentee community here!

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Chris M Wilson