Hey Reader,

I just turned 31 last month and I wanted to share something I do every year around my birthday.

I have a running list in my notes app where I write down lessons I learned over the years that impacted me in one way or another, (most of them I learned the hard way).

Turning 31 was more surreal for me.

When I was still 30, I could joke and say, "I'm not that old… I'm only in my THIRTY."

But now, I gotta say, "… I'm in my THIRTIES."

Hopefully that joke landed… 40% of the people I tell it to just stare at me with a straight face.

Reading through my list of life lessons, almost all of it came down to 2 things:

• How little time we actually have
• How much more of life is a choice than it sometimes feels like

11 of these lessons stood out to me this year so I wanted to share them with you.

1. Everything you want is on the other side of something you don't want to do. The financial freedom you want is sitting inside the work you keep avoiding. The body you want is in the workouts you skip. The success you want is in the decisions you keep putting off. Almost everything you want is one uncomfortable action away.

2. You're the author of your life. The most powerful stories are the ones we tell ourselves. For a long time I let mine be written by what other people expected. But your life isn't a series of random events happening to you… it's a series of decisions you get to make. At any moment, you can write a new chapter, or tear up the draft and start a new book.

3. Your "why" has to be something you feel, not just think. I didn't grow up with money. I still remember my mom buying my shirts two sizes too big to save money because I'll "grow into them." My why is to give my parents a life where they never have to worry about money again. If your why doesn't make you feel something in your chest, it's not a why. It's a wish.

4. You get about 4,000 weeks. That's the average human lifespan. If you're 25, you've got around 2,700 weeks left. I used to feel invincible (like most people do)… until I got diagnosed thyroid cancer, and got a very real reminder that any of us can go at any time. You don't need a scare to start living. Stop waiting. Go live.

5. If you don't learn how money works, you'll always work for money. Most people never learn the basics, so they spend their whole lives trading hours for a paycheck and hoping it works out. Learning how money actually works (how to save it, grow it, and make it work for you) is the difference between renting your life and owning it.

6. True wealth is what you don't see. Society rewards the visible stuff (the car, the clothes, the jewelry). But that's being rich, not wealthy. Rich is the flex you can see, often paid for by debt. Wealth is what's quiet... it's the savings, the investments, the peace of mind. Don't imitate rich people. Imitate wealthy ones.

7. Hard life now, easy life later. You get two options. Live easy now and hard later, or hard now and easy later. If you spend everything today, you risk being broke and still working in your 70s. If you do the hard work while you're young and have the energy, your future self gets to relax. It's true for your money, your health, and your relationships.

8. The 7x7 rule. If something won't matter in 7 years, don't spend more than 7 minutes being upset about it. Most of what we stress over won't matter in a year, let alone 7. We just blow it out of propotion because it's hard to step back in the moment. Zoom out, and you'll see that it was never that deep.

9. When you're not changing, you're choosing. If you've been complaining about the same job, the same friends, or the same bank balance for a while, every day you stay is a choice you're making. The other option is to choose to change. It won't be easy. But the real question is just: what are you going to choose today?

10. Trust your wings, not the branch. When a bird lands on a branch, it doesn't trust the branch. It trusts its wings. Most people wait for the perfectly safe branch, the perfect time, the perfect plan. But nothing is ever perfectly safe, and the perfect time never comes. Make the call now, and trust that you can adapt and fly even if the branch breaks.

11. Money buys time, not stuff. The real point of money was never the cars or the clothes. My car is old, paid off, and reliable. Most of my clothes are thrifted. I'd rather spend money on freedom, doing what I want, when I want, and with the people I want. Time is the one thing you can't earn back. Use money to buy more of it.

The last one is really what all 11 lessons boils down to.

It took me a few years to realize that being rich isn't about having a certain number in your bank account number in your bank... Being rich is being in control of your life.

See you next week,
Vincent

P.S. If any of these lessons resonated, can you reply and let me know which one (and be honest about whether you got the "THIRTIES" joke too). Reading your replies genuinely make my week.