You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have

“Do as I say, but not as I do”

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”

For a long time, I have had this huge desire to help people to live their best lives. To change the world for the better. To make a difference.

Before my son was born, I continuously would sing Sia’s song “Little man”. One of the lines in that song is to “Do as I say, but not as I do. Trust me, you’ll see. All I want is what is best for you”.

I began to think deeply about those words. What use is advising my son to do as I say, but not as I do. A child learns a lot more from what you do than from what you say. It’s common sense, but sometimes you are aware of something intellectually, but not in practice. This was one of those moments for me.

It also reminds me of when I would speak in schools advising young people to go for their dreams and that anything is possible. Then one day a child asked me “Is this your dream?”. I came up with some sort of response, but that question hit me hard! It caused me to rethink what I was doing with my life and begin to ask myself some serious questions.

The best guidance that you can give another is to walk your walk. Furthermore, the best advice comes from those who have lived it, not those who have thought about it.

“I can’t help the poor if I’m one of them, so I got rich and gave back to me that’s the win-win” – Jay-Z

It is due to the fact that you cannot give what you do not have that I am completely obsessed with being the best version of myself. The better I become, the more that I can give. That is a mission that never ends and one that I will continuously strive for.

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