DAVID GUERRA, MA, MBA

Unquestionable Rule for Life #4

Read, Study, Evolve

Why be a lifelong learner? Simple; you stop learning means you stop growing and when you stop growing, start dying. Once you are dead there is no more to learn. It is at this point, most people will ask, “what’s the point in learning anything if we just become worm food in the end?”

The point is you that while you are here (above ground) you must learn all that you can and turn all that knowledge into wisdom. The kind of wisdom you pass along to your legacy. Something magical happens when you pass the knowledge down to your legacy: you live on, long after you have “shuffle[d] off this mortal coil.” Your wisdom is passed on to the future.

In the meantime, your mission is to learn all you can, do all you can and absorb knowledge. Discipline yourself enough to accomplish the mission of learning to the very end.

Opportunities are all around us. Opportunities to learn and grow and evolve are everywhere. However, one thing is certain: NO ONE IS GOING TO JUST HAND IT TO YOU. You have to reach out and take those opportunities.

You have to claim them as yours. Once claimed, you have to put in the work. Otherwise, the opportunity vanishes in the night and you are left with nothing. Yep, without seizing the opportunity to maximizing the possibilities, it will all be for naught.

The more you know, the greater the opportunities.

So, what should you know? What should you learn?

Simple: If you have a chosen vocation learn as much as you can about it. Become more than just a subject matter expert become the master in your field. Become the one that other professionals turn to.

However, being a lifelong learner means that you will be learning for the rest of your life. There is no short cut to becoming the one that other professionals turn to. It comes from putting in the work. Always putting in the work.

How do you put in the work?

Simple, you start reading, writing, watching, conversing, and absorbing all of that, all the time, for the rest of your days.

You are always reading something. Personally, I am always reading at least three books at any given time. Of course, all three are in different genres (business, fiction, and a cookbook). You do not have to be reading more than one book at a time. It is what works for me.  Find yourself a book and get to reading.

When it comes to writing, you can start a blog or just write for yourself. You learn more about yourself when you put your own words down on paper or computer screen. It matters only to you who sees your words. It matters only to you as to what you want to write. Let your inner-self out.

Watch videos, movies, and documentaries. See how others interpret the words you read or read about. I once saw a documentary on how ramen is made in Japan. It was not only quite entertaining but very informative. I did not think I would learn from such as a subject. Who knows your next great inspiration may come from a twenty-minute video on Yurt building in Siberia.

Start talking to people. Close friends and family, colleagues, and yes, even strangers. Seems that the art of conversation has fallen to wayside and overtaken by emojis and three- or four-letter text code, IMHO. Conversations is how people get to know each other and learn from each other.

Absorb all that you can all the time. Remember, the more you know. However, in my case, the more I know the less I understand therefore, I must continue to learn more.

Knowledge Compounds

Wisdom, they say is what occurs when you acquire knowledge and life experience.

So do not forget to live while you are on your lifelong learning journey. If you find yourself slacking off then that’s where discipline comes into play. Having the discipline to becoming a lifelong learner is critical to your success.

Of course, life has a way of getting in the way of anything we want to do. That’s why I keep at least one small book in the car and a copy of the car book in my EDC backpack. I do have a digital copy on my phone but that’s about it for multi-copies. What kind of book warrants having multiple copies?

The classics: Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey, and something in the realm of Bronte, Shelley, Stoker, etc.

TIP: once you have read these classics put it on a rotation to re-read them. Trust me, you will discover something new the next time you read it. Work on and have the habits to continue to succeed at being a lifelong learner comes from being disciplined. Being disciplined will open more doors to your success.

Thank you,
David Guerra

Unquestionable Rule for Life #3

Motivation Fades

Motivation is the willingness to get up and do something. To start, to finish, to be actively participating in something. Then comes the day it is too cold, too wet, too hot, too dry, or whatever it happens to be that will stop us in our tracks. Then motivation is gone.

The mission fails to be accomplished. It happens; it happens to all of us. No one is immune. NO ONE!

Do not kid yourself and especially do not try to kid me with your “oh no not me” or “I never give up” and all that nonsense. Once the motivation fades away there is little to nothing any one can do to bring it back. Back to the level that it was when you started.

Why is that? Simple. You lack discipline.

Again, do not for one second kid yourself. It happens to everyone. No one is perfect. Yes, it happens to soldiers, the most disciplined of soldier have at one point lacked discipline.

However, by recognizing that discipline is what will get the job. It is through the vehicle that is discipline that success arrives just in the nick of time. Discipline is that “extra” that makes things happen, for the better. Lacking discipline makes things happen for the worse.

Sure, there are those few individuals that are motivated enough to accomplish but to what end and for how long? Usually, individuals that appear to be highly motivated will peak and the fade of into obscurity. Think back in high school, remember that “star quarterback” where is he now? Yep, their football career peaked in high school. Seriously, with approximately 64 – 96 professional NFL quarterbacks (starter, backup, and the back up to the backup) what are the odds? Let’s do the math: out of the 26,727 high schools (as of 2025) in the United States that comes out to a mere 0.0036% quarterbacks that make it to the “big show”, thus the odds are never in their favor.

I am not going out of my way to pick on the quarterback but I am only doing so to give this example some legs. I am more than sure all 26,727 starting high school quarterbacks were motivated to be the big fish in their tiny pond. But where was the discipline?

Were they disciplined enough to accomplish the mission? No.

Are you disciplined enough to accomplish the mission, the one you set for yourself just as you were graduating high school? I did and I did not. I did in that I joined and did my time in the US Army. No, in that I did not become the Medical Doctor I dreamed of becoming when I was a wee lad. I lacked the discipline to go Pre-Med. I did, however, have the discipline to eventually get my Bachelor’s and ultimately two Master’s degrees.

It was a long road and it continues to be a long, arduous road. However, the discipline instilled in me by the US Army, the US Army Infantry school at Fort Benning, the Berlin Brigade, my wife, and my children make my next accomplishment all the better. See what I did there? I shared with you that building the discipline I need was not easy. It was gained over time. It is not something was “just there” for me to take. It was always there but I had to see it, recognize it, work for it, and ultimately earned it.

Once you have discipline, it is not the end all or be all. It is something that must be continually earned. You have to work at getting disciplined and the work even hard to stay disciplined.

So how does one acquire the discipline to do what has to be done? How does one get the discipline to do what must be done where motivation is nowhere in sight?

Habits Build Discipline Builds Success

As discipline builds success, what builds discipline? Habits.

Habits are what you do on repeat, but more importantly habits are you on autopilot.

Discipline is the autopilot. Discipline is what gnaws at you to do something when you do not want to do it.

Remember, according to the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen R. Covey, it takes a minimum of twenty-one days to create a habit. However, it takes 90 days to create a lifestyle.

You must have the habits to continue to achieve the success that comes from being disciplined.

To obtain and keep the habits you need to succeed, the very ones that will drive you to be disciplined, start developing some habits such as:

• Waking up early (yes, even on the weekends)
• Create a daily routine (to include the weekends)
• Go radio silent (no phone, no doom scrolling, no electronic tethers whatsoever)
• Get physically moving (every day, including weekends)

Notice how these habits are NOT specific. The specifics are up to you. You have to define what works for you. You have to take charge of your growth and progress. You have to develop the habits that will lead you towards discipline.

The discipline you achieve will take you to the level of success you want to accomplish. However, remember when it comes to discipline to success the ratio is 1:1. This means that for every ounce of discipline you have that is the same amount of success you achieve. Have very little discipline you will have very little success. Be highly disciplined you will be highly successful.

When it comes to getting things done, nothing beats good old-fashioned discipline. The discipline you have now can always be improved upon. Your ability to create the habits that will create the level of discipline to lead you to success solely rest all on you. This means if you want it bad enough you will do what it takes to achieve the level of discipline to get you what you want.

However, a word of caution (or advice) if what you want is a relationship with another person. There is nothing you can do, there is no habit, and no amount of discipline will get you the relationship you believe you should have. Human relationships are different and difficult. They are different in that it requires both sides to put in the work, both sides to be disciplined enough make it work. No one side should ever have to force the other side. It is difficult, in that at one point, we do not know what the other thinks or wants. That’s where the work comes in. Put in the work but when it’s over, it’s over.

As for anything else; fate is on your side. So long as you are willing to overlook the motivation and be disciplined to do the work.

– Dave Guerra

Unquestionable Rule for Life #2

They say that life is a great teacher.

The problem with that is that most of us refuse to stop living long enough to learn what it has to teach us. However, we do not have to be six feet under to understand the meaning of life. Actually, we are already living the lessons life has to teach us.

Think about this: When we were infants and learning how to walk, we would stumble, we fall, we get back up again. Eventually, we quit stumbling, quit falling down, we stood up and started walking. Sure, we occasionally stumble and fall but for the most part we got this walking routine under control.

See life was teaching you and you were learning. However, along the way to where we are today, we seem to have forgotten that falling down (and getting back up) is part of life.

Growing, in school, we would be taught something and then tested (all the in the guise of checking to see what was retained) and sometimes we would pass the test and other times we would fail or miss passing by just that much. Either way, we continued with our federally mandated education.

Then as we got older, many of us would fall into one of the greatest con-games, ever. It is the “I got this” con. Seems that almost every time we would find ourselves at the bottom of a hypothetical “Burmese Tiger Trap” only to say those three words again and ultimately finding ourselves at the bottom of that trap, yet again. Sometimes, some of us, do not learn.

If you get the feeling that I am trying to tell you something, you are correct, my friend.

LEARN FROM FAILURE

While we have been subconsciously doing it all our lives, it is in our conscious state that most of us struggle with learning from failure. It is when our ego writes checks we cannot cash and soon enough, we find ourselves inside that pit. While once or twice is enough for most of us, there are those that just find themselves falling down over and over again, all because they “got this” and refuse to acknowledge that they, in fact, DO NOT GOT THIS!

So, what does this mean to them, to you, to all of us.

It means that we need to stop being stubborn and get on with our learning and growing.

WHAT IS A GROWTH MINDSET?

A growth mindset, to me means that one has accepted that life and the world continue to teach us and will teach us until the very end. Having a growth mindset means that we become lifelong learners. Being lifelong learners, we show others that just because we reach a certain in time and space does not mean that is all there is. There is so much left to see, do, and learn.

That being said, do not for one second think you cannot have a growth mindset or be a lifelong learner. There is really nothing to it than to set you ego aside by opening your eyes, opening your ears, opening your mind, and shutting your mouth. Doing that, will most definitely take you to a place of growth. A place of personal growth which ultimately leads to professional growth.

ALWAYS SEEK SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Let’s say you got started on your growth mindset journey, then what? A growth mindset is not a SHINY NEW OBJECT.  A Growth Mindset should never be considered a passing fad or the jumping on the bandwagon of the latest trend. Having and Living with a Growth Mindset is beyond that. Having a growth mindset means you are in it for the long haul, hence lifelong learner.

This always means that you are always on the hunt to find and implement that which will add value to your life. That which improves and benefits your life. That which makes life better.

A word of advice, being a lifelong learner and having a growth mindset also means creating long lasting, sustainable change in your life. Yes, that means removing that which no longer serves your or keeps you tied to your past and refuses to let you grow. What I am saying is that as part of your growth there is no reason to keep the energy vampires within your sphere of control or concern (for that matter).

Cut the deadweight. Cut the negativity out of your life, even if it means cutting people out. Remember, that as you are trying to grow there will be those that will try to hold you back. Be cautious as those people will come in many forms. Some will be close and some will be strangers. Of course, strangers hold no currency in your life, but those that are close hold a certain amount of value (no matter who they or how close they are).

As mentioned earlier, we stumble, fall, and we get ourselves back up. OURSELVES. All by ourselves. Sure, they may have been there to change your diapers, feed you, clothe you but did they do all that with expectations of pay back? It may be bubble-bursting time as all that is the parent’s obligation of having a child. If you find that the expectation of pay back is the case you find yourself in, remember you are under no obligation to pick up the mess created by their careless, reckless behavior. So yes, that’s exactly what I mean, because they F-A, they will F-O.

If you have never encountered someone like that, be grateful because the most certainly exist. To re-iterate, it may be difficult to break away from those that bring negativity and dissent but to grow, you may have to cut the dead, rotting branches from your life. Yes, it is time to move on to a better place, a better world of your own making.

A final word or two; that if after all doing what it takes to growth you find yourself by yourself, then so be it. You have no choice. Always Remember to Be Your Own Cheerleader.

– Dave Guerra