Wisdom

Why enjoying yourself can never be a waste of time

01/30/2026 by

Time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a great believer in making the most of your time.

In particular, a constant message from me is that you should not waste your time. However, as with everything, it is important to strike a balance, of course.

As the late John Lennon reminds us in his observation above, truly enjoying yourself can never be a waste of time.

Enjoying yourself and having fun have positive benefits for your physical and mental health.

For a start, it reduces stress.

Also, what would be the point of life if you couldn’t have a little fun occasionally? All work and no play will make you a very dull person indeed.

Remember the words in that old Music Hall song, “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think. Enjoy yourself while you’re still in the pink.”

For any reader not familiar with the expression ‘in the pink‘, it’s British slang for being in a good state of health.

You can’t be serious all the time, dear reader.

Sometimes you’ve just got to have some fun.

So go on, and start having some fun right now. You know you want to.

Enjoying-Yourself
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Phil Sutton

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Life is short: Here’s what’s important to you today

01/30/2026 by

Life is short:

You’ll often hear people talk about the importance of money in terms of living life in the modern age.

Let’s be honest, it’s difficult to live without money today, isn’t it? Certainly, it’s up there with oxygen and water for sustaining life.

Nevertheless, we must also remember that life is short. And sadly for some people, it’s very short indeed.

So, while money’s important, it’s not an ideal means for measuring success, is it? Not real success in life anyway.

Misplaced priorities:

In the modern age, it’s easy to become obsessed with money.

However, the accumulation of money for its own sake should never be the underlying motive that drives us, surely? That can only lead to a life of misplaced priorities, I think.

If your approach to life includes an obsession with money, then you’ll be doomed to disappointment, and I think you’ll realise that eventually.

One day you’ll look back and wish you’d spent a bit more time with family, friends, and loved ones, of that I’m quite sure.

So what would be an ideal measure of success?

A measure of success:

For me, a better measure of success is whether we’re feeling fulfilled by what we’re doing.

If our work is something we’d do as a hobby if we couldn’t get paid for it then that’s a better way of gauging success. As the legendary investor, Warren Buffett once said:

“Look for a job that you’d take if you didn’t need a job.”

A sense of purpose and work that is fulfilling and truly absorbing is a much less stressful way of living.

Enjoy what you do:

Enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy, if you possibly can.

If you enjoy what you do, you’ll do it well, and the money will follow anyway. If you do your work exceptionally well, then people will notice. And once you get noticed, you’re on your way to genuine success.

Never be driven by money alone.

Never accept a job simply because it’s well paid.

It’s nice to have a good salary, of course.

However, once you get used to the money, you still have to spend a third of your life doing the work for which you’re being paid well.

And doing work you don’t enjoy is a significant price to pay in terms of your emotions, stress levels, and the potential impact it will have on your health.

Time is precious:

If life’s short, then our time is very precious, surely?

What’s the point of working every hour you’ve got just to become rich, only to die suddenly of a heart attack having had no time to enjoy the fruits of your labour?

What a waste that would be. Being the richest man or woman in the graveyard is hardly a title worth having, is it?

So my underlying message to you today, dear reader, is to find work you enjoy doing and to make sure you leave a little time to enjoy life too. A little ‘me time‘ is essential for everyone.

No one’s life is perfect:

Don’t forget that everyone faces challenges, occasionally. No one’s life is perfect. We all have problems.

Inevitably, your life will have its ups and downs. However, make sure there are more ups than downs in your life, as far as you are able.

Take some time to smell the roses and have a laugh.

As the old Music Hall song used to say; “enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.”

You wouldn’t want to live forever, but you should be living your life to the fullest today.

Life really is short and it’s definitely later than you think. And as we say where I come from, “you’ll be a long time dead.”

So go on, live life and live it now. And if you’ve yet to find work you enjoy doing, keep looking.

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Thank you.

Phil Sutton

© Mann Island Media Limited 2026. All rights reserved.

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The importance of change and the opportunities it brings

01/29/2026 by

Today, dear reader, I’d like to explore the importance of change to a business and the opportunities it brings. For the fleet-footed entrepreneur, opportunity is synonymous with change. If that isn’t obvious, trust me, it’s true. And that’s why it’s important to embrace change.

1. Change is inevitable:

As the old saying goes, change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

We cannot avoid change, quite simply, because it’s going to happen whether we like it or not. Trying to stop it is like trying to hold back the tide. It cannot be done. Change is simply a force of nature.

However, if you hate change, don’t worry because you’re not alone. Most people hate change.

Just when we think we have everything under control, a significant change happens, and suddenly we’re scrambling to get ourselves back to equilibrium. It makes life seem like a giant game of Snakes and Ladders, doesn’t it?

2. Fear of change is natural:

Actually feeling uncomfortable when faced with change is both rational and natural because one of the most basic human needs is the need to feel secure. Change is an uncomfortable experience because it makes us feel insecure.

However, we must control any fear we have about it and we must have the courage to do whatever is necessary to ensure that we respond appropriately as the winds of change start blowing around us.

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3. Businesses can be fragile:

Change can affect a business in many ways, given that plenty of things can change for a business over time.

For instance, consumers’ needs, wants, and expectations will change over time, as will technology; markets, competition, and regulations. And of course, let’s not forget taxation. Governments are constantly tinkering with taxation, as their need for money increases.

Therefore, business owners and executives must be on their guard constantly, anticipating change and how it might affect their business.

Whether you’re an owner, an executive, or just an employee, if you’re involved with a business then you cannot afford to become too complacent.

Ignore change, and it’ll kill your business quicker than you might imagine. It can kill your career, too. Businesses can be fragile if they’re exposed suddenly to the harsh reality of change.

4. Change on an industrial scale:

It’s easy to think that major corporations that dominate whole industries are immune from the impact that change can bring. Unfortunately, this isn’t so.

Consider, for instance, the computer industry.

IBM was once the behemoth of that industry. The very name was synonymous with everything that was best in the information technology (IT) sector, globally. So glowing was their reputation that there was an old saying universally accepted in business, “No one ever got fired for buying IBM.“

They were Big Blue, second to no one.

However, their size and reputation didn’t stop them from almost paying a heavy price for failing to anticipate changing IT trends.

For years, IBM favoured large centralised computer installations that filled whole buildings. And IBM didn’t see any reason to do anything differently, as they were in the business of supplying these and making good money from them.

Neither did they believe that many people would actually need computers. As recently as 1943 Thomas Watson, then Chairman of IBM said, “I think there’s a world market for maybe five computers.”

However, IBM’s lack of foresight didn’t end there.

Having introduced what we now call the PC to the market in 1982, they didn’t believe it had any real future. Apparently, their original forecast for global sales for the PC was just 25,000 units, worldwide.

IBM didn’t want PCs to sell because they saw centralised corporate computer systems as where the real money was. Their failure to see the potential of the PC allowed Microsoft to move in and become a dominant player at IBM’s expense.

Failure to recognize changing trends and how they would affect the demand for computers and the way computers were going to be used had almost catastrophic consequences for IBM.

To be fair, they did manage to adapt eventually, but not before their business came dangerously close to collapse. And to this day, they do not dominate their industry in the way they once did.

5. Heavyweights no more:

Another good example of a dominant industry player failing to recognise the winds of change was Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).

If you’re not familiar with that name, dear reader, they were the leading supplier of what was then known as the mini-computer back in the late 1970s.

However, it seems DEC allowed its dominant industry position to cloud its judgment because back in 1977, Ken Olson, then President, Chairman, and founder of DEC observed, “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.”

Where is DEC now?

They’re nothing more than a footnote in the history of digital technology. Few people, other than old computer industry hands, will even remember the name.

And yet the demand for computer technology products is greater than it has ever been. Every household has several of them in the form of desktops, laptops, and, in particular, tablets and smartphones.

Today, the computer industry is dominated by companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. None of these companies even existed when Ken Olson made his unfortunate comment in 1977.

Another good example is Kodak, once the dominant player in the photographic products industry. As recently as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of film sales and 85% of camera sales in the United States. Where are they now? Certainly, nothing like the company they once were, that’s for sure.

6. Change brings opportunity:

Set aside the fear of change, and you’ll see that it’s not necessarily a bad thing, because it generates opportunities for the fleet-footed. So there’s a positive dimension to change as well.

If it’s embraced, then opportunities are always there for the taking.

Just think about it for a second. If change didn’t happen, we’d all still be living in caves and riding around on donkeys.

Most companies, particularly large corporations, are usually far too slow in responding to change. However, that offers plenty of scope for smaller, faster, and more flexible businesses to move in and relieve the big boys of their lunch.

So change is a positive dynamic.

7. See change positively:

Let’s face it if everything always remained the same, then most of the things we enjoy and take for granted today wouldn’t exist.

In developed countries, we enjoy a standard of living that would have been beyond the imagination of people even a century ago. Think about that statement for a second; everything we now take for granted today once didn’t exist.

The point is that we ignore change at our peril, particularly in business.

So it’s better to embrace change positively than to ignore it.

Yes, of course, it feels uncomfortable, but we all get used to changes in the fullness of time.

If change is going to happen anyway, then we might as well see what’s in it for us, surely?

If we’re in business, or indeed, as people, we should always be constantly thinking about how we can exploit change to our advantage. How can we seize the opportunities that will come along as a natural consequence of change?

To exploit change, we need to become trend-watchers. And not just single trends.

We need to be watching every trend that might have an impact on ourselves and our businesses.

We must consider how those trends might come together to create a perfect storm, the winds of which might do us harm or become the wind beneath our wings.

Whether the consequences are good or bad, we must always be ready for them.

9. Conclusion:

Successful people are adept at exploiting opportunities brought about by change.

Change is synonymous with opportunity, it’s that simple.

Never fear change, you must embrace it.

If success is your aim, then change can be your friend.

However, never underestimate the harm change can do, should you become too complacent.

Change can be a force for good, but equally, it can be a dangerous force for the unwary.

When you think of change, think positively, but think defensively too.

Phil Sutton

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The secret to happiness that everyone should know

01/29/2026 by

If you’re reading this blog post, dear reader, perhaps you’ve been searching for the secret to happiness. If you have, you’re not alone. Many people search, but few find real happiness.

However, if happiness is what you seek, allow me to enlighten you.

Money’s not the answer:

When you hear news of someone winning big on a lottery, do you ever think that you’d be so much happier if only you could win big too? You’d be happy if only you had a lot of money, right?

Certainly, having money can make life comfortable. There’s no question about that. And who wouldn’t want to be comfortable?

Having money can allow you to do all sorts of things you couldn’t do otherwise. Live in a nice house, wear the finest clothes, drive a nice car, and travel first class to exotic places.

However, there’s one thing that money cannot do for you. It cannot make you happy. It’s a fact that having a lot of money by itself can never make you happy. There are plenty of very wealthy people who are miserable.

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Happiness is a state of mind:

It is also a fact that if you aren’t happy without money, then suddenly gaining a lot of money will not change the way you feel. If anything, its impact on your life will probably make you even less happy.

Happiness is a state of mind. It’s the capacity to appreciate life for what it is and not what you think you’d like it to be. It’s being content with what you have, whatever that is.

Happiness is a positive mental attitude, a willingness to see the good side of every situation, regardless of how bad it might be in reality, a determination to enjoy the moment, and being comfortable in your own skin.

Work towards creating your pot of gold, by all means, dear reader, but in doing so, never lose sight of what matters most.

The period of human life is short, and it goes by in the blink of an eye.

Yesterday has gone, and you may never know tomorrow. The here and now are the only certainties you have.

This moment is your life, so you must find a way to enjoy every moment. Get the most out of them all. For, as we say where I come from, you’ll be a long time dead.

The secret to happiness:

Enjoy simple, inexpensive pleasures like having a laugh or a coffee with a friend. That’s when you’ll be happiest. That’s how memories are made, too.

Accept that your life will be full of challenges, which is what makes it all interesting.

And recognise that by having to respond to challenges, you are growing as a person. So it makes sense to respond to every challenge with enthusiasm because you can only win, ultimately. Either you’ll succeed, or you’ll learn a lesson.

And remember this too: as your life passes, you won’t remember those expensive shoes you bought or the latest gadget, but you will remember the experiences you had with the people who mattered most to you.

Enjoy life for what it is, and don’t fret about what it isn’t. The secret to happiness is contentment.

If you can be happy without money, then having money will be a bonus.

Phil Sutton

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This is the key to success in one lesson

01/28/2026 by

Dear reader, would you like to know the key to success? It’s simple.

Success starts with making a decision. You decide what you want to achieve, and then you decide that you’re going to go out and get it.

Once your decision has been made, you pursue your objective with determination and tenacity, and you don’t allow anyone or anything to stop you.

In 1960, US President John Kennedy made a speech in which he said that by the end of that decade, the United States would put a man on the moon. And in 1969, the United States fulfilled the promise made by Kennedy.

Kennedy didn’t know how they would achieve the goal he articulated in 1960.

However, he believed in their ability to do it; he believed they could develop the technology to do it, and he made a decision that they would do it. However, ultimately, in making his promise, there was an element of risk.

Now there’s risk in everything we do, of course, and nothing exceptional will ever be achieved without some degree of risk along the way.

Lesser men and women may allow the fear of risk to stop them. However, men and women destined for great things will feel the fear, and they’ll do it anyway.

Greatness cannot be achieved without paying your dues along the way. That’s a fact.

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Be fearless:

Anything worth having comes with a price tag, namely blood, sweat, and tears. So be bold, be strong, and pursue your dream with passion.

Yes, it will be challenging mentally and emotionally. And yes, plenty of people will tell you that it’s not possible or that you’re not quite good enough.

Well, don’t listen to the naysayers and negative Nellies. It matters not what they think, but only what you think. If you believe you can do it, then that’s all that matters.

If you want it, whatever it is, just keep pushing and never, ever give up until you get to where you want to be.

Greatness can be achieved by anyone with sufficient determination. People do succeed, and so can you.

So whatever it is you want to do, just go out there and do the damn thing. Do it now. Believe you can and you will.

If you’re still not convinced, then take a look at this video, which I think is a fantastic motivational speech.

Watch it now and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed. And the bottom line is that you’ve got to be fearless.

Key to Success – Video:

Phil Sutton

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How to be a good parent and raise a well-balanced child

01/27/2026 by

How to be a good parent and raise a well-balanced child? Now there’s a question worthy of consideration, surely?

It’s a question that’s important because children are the adults of tomorrow. So, how you nurture your children does matter.

Parenting is one of life’s great experiences. I can tell you that from personal experience. I’ve had many fine experiences in my life so far, but none have been better or given me greater pleasure and satisfaction than being a parent.

However, parenting is also an interesting experience because nothing in life before you become a parent prepares you for the enormity of the role you’re taking on.

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How to be a good parent:

1. Your gift to the world:

Anyone beyond the age of sexual maturity can become a parent fairly easily, assuming you can find a willing partner.

And yet you don’t receive any training for the role at all. None!

You spend 12–14 years at school, and not once does the curriculum cover how to be a good parent. Even if you go on to college or university, the course will not cover parenting at any stage.

And you’ll only realise the magnitude of the task you’ve taken on the day you bring your first child home from the hospital. That’s the point at which the enormity of the challenge will begin to sink in.

Certainly, that’s the way it was for me and my wife.

Parenting is undoubtedly a great experience, but it’s also a great responsibility.

Your children are your gift to the world.

They’re the future. They’ll be the adults and taxpayers of tomorrow, and they’ll take the baton from your generation and carry it forward.

So how they’re nurtured matters, and the nurturing process must be taken seriously.

2. Your home environment matters:

Preparation begins with the place in which your children will live their early lives. Your home environment matters, both physically and emotionally.

A parent’s power to create a loving, stable home with a healthy and positive atmosphere and an environment in which children can develop, thrive, and grow is so awesome that it must be used both consciously and responsibly.

So, discipline yourself and control your emotions.

Give your children the light and warmth of love, hope, good cheer, and constant encouragement.

In your home, the physical environment matters, of course, but the emotional environment matters even more, in my opinion. If there’s a bad vibe, children will pick up on it, and it will affect them over time.

3. Be positive, enthusiastic, and supportive:

Raising children can be challenging at the best of times, but remember this: they didn’t ask to be born.

That they’re here on this earth is your responsibility, and you owe it to them to be the best parent you can be.

So you must make a conscious effort to be positive, enthusiastic, and supportive at all times.

This can have an enormously positive impact not only on the emotional well-being of your children but also on their ability to experience the joys and pains of childhood in healthy and constructive ways.

Enjoy every minute with them because the years will fly by all too quickly.

Giving them your time is far more important than any material possessions you might buy for them. Money spent is no substitute for time missed.

Happiness is created; it can’t be bought.

Fill your house with joy and laughter. That’s the soil in which healthy children will flourish and grow.

4. Ensure they have a balanced life:

Encourage your children to strike a balance between their schoolwork and the pursuit of the things they genuinely enjoy doing. In that, I’m referring to sports, games, drama, music, and all forms of creative pursuits.

Recognize the importance of an education that will both stretch them and broaden their minds.

Ensure they have a sound grasp of concept-based subjects.

Foster their creative, sporting, and vocational talents.

If something appeals to them, then encourage them to give it a try.

Yes, it might prove to be a five-minute wonder, but equally, it could prove to be something on which their entire future is built.

Just think about Elton John playing the piano or Jimmy Page learning to play the guitar. Imagine if their parents had said, “No, we’re not wasting money on that; you won’t stick with it.“

If they find something that they not only enjoy but are good at too, then that will help them build self-confidence and sociability.

And make sure you help them develop their ability to think, speak, and write clearly. These are life’s most important skills.

If they can also develop a dash of style, then that’ll really make them stand out amongst their peers.

5. Establish boundaries and a moral framework:

Set boundaries and make sure they know the penalty for any transgression. And should they cross a boundary, they must know that you’ll ensure that they pay that penalty.

However, it’s not about punishment; it’s about making sure that they learn to make good choices because, ultimately, the choices they make will dictate the quality of the life they lead.

Above all, provide them with the moral framework within which they can lead their lives respectably.

And remember, if you want them to live by the moral code you establish, then you must live by it too. Children will always notice what you do, even if they don’t hear what you say.

6. Keep expectations realistic:

Have high yet realistic expectations of your children.

It’s essential to temper expectations with realism.

Parental expectations are good for children insofar as they help motivate them to strive to achieve and do their best.

Stretching a child can help them realize their full potential, but any stretching must be consistent with the child’s natural ability. Setting them up for an obvious failure would do them more harm than good.

7. Place responsibility on their shoulders:

As they grow and mature, be sure to give them some regular chores to do and gradually place responsibility on their shoulders.

Pocket money should be earned. That ensures they realise that there’s no such thing as a free ride. Money is what we get for doing things for other people. That’s the real nature of work, and it’s a lesson they must learn as early as possible.

Placing responsibility on their shoulders and making them earn their pocket money should instil in them a strong work ethic, which they’ll need if they’re to succeed in life.

Please don’t make the mistake of making it all too easy for them.

Doing that may seem like you’re being kind to them, but in fact, you’d be doing them a great disservice.

Making it all too easy is foolish.

8. Enjoy their achievements:

Enjoy their achievements, but don’t be too disappointed if they don’t quite manage to live up to everything you expect of them.

As long as they’ve done their best, then that’s all you can reasonably expect of them.

However, never, ever let your work or your social life take precedence over you attending their parents’ evening, sports day, school plays, or any of the other significant events in their young lives.

You may not think it matters to a child, but, trust me, it does. I can tell you from my personal experience that it matters a lot to them.

9. Create that rare bird:

If you can do all of these things, you will produce that rare bird, otherwise known as the well-educated, polite, balanced, and confident young person with a strong work ethic.

Achieve that, and the world will be grateful for your contribution to the future.

Never underestimate the importance of good parenting.

Parenting is life’s most important role, and it matters far more than any career. It’s the most important work you’ll ever do, whether you’re the mother or the father.

And when you realise that your children have grown up to be decent human beings, you’ll be glad you took it all seriously.

Lessons in parenting:

At the beginning of this post, I said that we don’t receive any training in parenting.

Actually, that’s not quite true.

Once we become parents for the first time, our parents become the role models we try to emulate. We tend to follow their approach to parenting and do what they do.

So by becoming a good parent yourself, you’ll not only produce well-balanced children, but you’ll also ensure that they have a good role model to follow when they have their children.

Become a good parent, and at least two generations will benefit from you taking your role seriously.

So the world benefits twice. That’s a real legacy, surely?

Please share this post with your friends:

Did you find this article interesting and useful, dear reader?

If so, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

So go on, please share it now. If you do that for me, I’ll be forever grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support.

Phil Sutton

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The purpose of life – What’s it really all about?

01/27/2026 by

Today, I want to explore the purpose of life. To me, life must have a purpose. Why are we here?

What’s life all about when it all comes down to it?

Should life just be a treadmill of meeting other people’s expectations, or should our aim simply be to lead lives that make us happy?

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
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The purpose of life

What does life mean to you, dear reader?

Do you ever feel that you’re just living life on a treadmill, constantly running to meet the expectations of everyone around you?

Perhaps you worry about what other people think about you. If you do, you’re certainly not alone.

Too many people waste their time worrying about what others think of them.

If only they realised that other people spend little or no time thinking about them at all.

Your approach is just as valid as the next person’s

Most people are too busy trying to deal with their own lives. They don’t have the time to think much about anyone else’s life.

So why not just be yourself and lead your own life on your terms?  No law says you must lead the life others think you should lead.

Your approach to life is just as valid as the next person’s, and as long as you’re not hurting anyone else, you’re free to choose how you live.

Don’t try to be something you’re not

You can only be the person you are. Anything else would be fake, wouldn’t it?

Just be yourself and accept yourself for the person you are. You’re a true original, and you can be truly proud of that.

Remind yourself frequently that you’re better than you think you are and that you’re as good as anyone.

Constantly reinforce your self-belief

If you haven’t got much self-belief right now, then a sensible strategy would be to fake it until it happens naturally. And that will come with the little successes you’ll achieve over time.

Never consciously try to impress anyone else. It doesn’t get you anywhere worth going. Just do what comes naturally to you.

You’re only going to have this one life, so live it on your terms. Enjoy your life for what it is and make the most of it.

Don’t let life happen, make it happen

Never, ever just let life happen to you; decide on the life you want and then make it happen.

It’s important to know what you want, and you should never give up until you get it.

Always be you, but make it the best version of you.

And remember this: an original is always more impressive than a copy. So don’t copy other people. Be original.

Life begins outside your comfort zone

And remember this too: life begins once you’ve stepped beyond your comfort zone. That’s where the real challenges are, and that’s where you will grow.

And you must never stop growing.

So step outside your comfort zone, look those challenges in the eye, and just give them a wink.

You’re more than a match for them all. They should be quaking in their boots.

My message to you today is this:

Go on, live life! Now! It’s later than you think.

Phil Sutton

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Thank you, dear reader.

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The purpose of life, The purpose of life, The purpose of life

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How to break a bad habit and improve your life

01/27/2026 by

When it comes to bad habits, we can all be guilty, to some degree, at least. So people often consider the question of how to break a bad habit.

Habits are what we do on autopilot. That is, done automatically without thinking.

Do you have any bad habits, dear reader? Now, be honest with yourself.

I refer to those little, irritating patterns of behaviour you simply can’t help. Those obsessions you may have occasionally. Perhaps you have one or two bad habits you’d really like to break?

Now habits can be hard to break, of course, particularly bad ones.

So here’s another question. Could you break bad habits simply by being more curious about them?

Well, the psychiatrist Dr Judson Brewer certainly has an opinion to offer on that issue.

Dr Judson Brewer studies the relationship between mindfulness and addiction, and in the TEDTalk included in this post, he shares his views on everything from smoking to overeating to all those other things we do even though we know they’re bad for us.

If you want to learn more about the mechanism of habit development, then you’ll find this video interesting, and it’s definitely worth watching.

If you have habits you’d really like to break, then it would certainly make sense for you to learn more about how you developed those habits in the first place.

The more you understand, the better you’ll be able to take action and break those bad habits.

So take a few minutes now and listen to what Dr Brewer has to say. It’ll be well worth a little of your time, I promise.

How to break a bad habit and improve your life
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How to break a bad habit:

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Phil Sutton

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How we are damaged by our school days

01/27/2026 by

How we are damaged by our school days seems like an oxymoron. However, the idea is worth exploring, I think.

So, could our school days really have damaged us? Do you think that’s even possible?

Were they the best days of our lives, as we’re encouraged to believe, or could our school days have been detrimental to our mental well-being and self-esteem?

I think that is an interesting question.

So let’s think about it for a minute.

Certainly, many people will have had mostly good experiences during their school days.

However, there will also be some for whom their school days will have left them mentally scarred and with a sense of failure. That much is philosophically self-evident, surely?

For instance, perhaps at school, people such as those to whom I refer never quite achieved the grades their parents or teachers thought they should.

Perhaps they were the last to be picked for a sports team regularly?

In either case, how would such experiences have made them feel?

What impact would they have had on their mental well-being?

Perhaps they felt they were not quite good enough?

Possibly a little bit bruised and embarrassed by their inability to achieve what they believed was expected of them?

Adults may have thought that putting pressure on them would motivate them to do well, yet it probably left them feeling inadequate.

How we are damaged by our school days

Your birth date matters:

Do any of these ideas resonate with you, dear reader? Have you experienced such feelings?

The problem with the school experience is that the age range of our classmates is spread over a whole year. And that’s a lot more significant than it first appears when you’re young.

Someone whose birthday is at the beginning of September will be a year older than someone whose birthday is towards the end of August, despite both being in the same academic year.

Now it might not seem much, but one year at that time in our lives makes a huge difference in terms of our development, both mentally and physically.

So, what does this mean?

It means that if your birthday is at the end of the school year, then you’re at a significant disadvantage relative to some of your much older classmates.

That disadvantage carries with you right throughout your school years if you’re affected by it.

And it’s a disadvantage that extends not just to your academic studies, but also to sports and physical activity too.

Success breeds positive reinforcement:

Most importantly, it’s not just the fact that you’re behind in terms of your physical and mental development. It’s also a fact that success breeds positive reinforcement.

Older students benefit from the constant reinforcement and encouragement of being told, ‘Well done!‘, while younger students struggle to keep up unless they’re exceptionally gifted.

Even if people are of above-average ability for their age, they can still be at a disadvantage relative to older classmates during their school days, particularly if those older classmates are also of above-average ability.

Inevitably, at school, people are compared to their peers, and statistics show that the older ones tend to do better because of an inherent age advantage. That’s true with sports as well as academic subjects.

If younger students appear to perform less well frequently, that’s interpreted as them not being quite as good as their older peers.

Advantage goes with age:

And few people, least of all our parents, recognise that the system essentially does not favour younger members of the class. It puts them at a disadvantage.

The obvious question is, how many people have gone through life feeling like a bit of a loser due to their experiences of a school system that tends to work against them simply because of the month in which they were born?

And how many people never fully recover from the inevitable damage done to their confidence and self-esteem during those all-too-important developmental years?

More importantly, our school days not only affect how we feel about ourselves. They also impact how others perceive us to be as well.

A reputation for being a ‘straight A’ student beats being a bit of an academic ‘also ran’. No one questions whether the former had an inherent advantage over the latter.

How we’re perceived by others matters. Think about it. Their perception of us results in all the negative talk we often hear whenever we express ambition, which can affect our self-esteem.

I’m sure you know what I mean, as no doubt many readers will be familiar with the experience. Something like:-

You: “Oh, I’d like to be a doctor.”

Parent: “Oh, don’t be ridiculous, with your grades?”

And so on.

Our need for encouragement:

People will always give you reasons why you’re not good enough when what you need is encouragement.

With encouragement, you could make it in whatever pursuit that makes you feel truly energised.

If you’re someone who experienced disadvantage for whatever reason then let me tell you something. You’re as good as anyone and you should acknowledge that to yourself, constantly.

Schooldays represent a very small portion of life and they’re significant only in so far as they are only one of many experiences we’ll have in life. Certainly, they don’t define you.

If your schooldays were a good experience then fine. If not, so what?

You can still achieve your ambitions with sufficient hard work and determination.

It doesn’t matter whether others believe you can do it, just as long as you believe you can do it.

There’s no such thing as a failure:

Remember; there’s no such thing as a failure. That label does not belong to people.

Failure is just an unwanted outcome and a learning opportunity. It’s not a person.

You have enormous potential. We all do.

Everyone is capable of achieving much more than they could ever think possible. With determination and hard work, we can all achieve great things.

Attitude matters:

Your attitude is much more important than your aptitude when it comes to achieving your goals in life. Believe you can and you will.

However you feel about your past, it’s not too late to become something more than you are now.

You should embrace failure as nothing more than a learning opportunity. It does not define you, and nor should it.

Recognise that just because you didn’t set the world on fire during your school days, it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve great things now.

No correlation:  

Remember; there’s no correlation between success at school and success in life.

Plenty of ‘Straight A’ students fail to achieve anything significant after they’ve left education behind. Whereas plenty of the less academically successful go on to achieve great things in life.

It’s not about how many times you get knocked down that count but how many times you can get back up and keep going until you get to where you want to be.

Victory is sweeter when it has been achieved following the experience of defeat.

You cannot achieve anything without the experience of at least the occasional failure along the way.

We all start as beginners:

Before anyone achieved success, they started as a complete beginner. And along the road to success, they will have made plenty of mistakes. Anyone who suggests otherwise is either lying or deluded.

If you want to succeed, work hard, make mistakes and learn the lessons as you go.

If you’re determined you’ll find a way to achieve your goals and realise your dreams.

Failure’s not fatal:

Don’t be overwhelmed by any perceived failure. It doesn’t have to be fatal, nor does it imply that you’re not capable of achieving great things.

Never, ever give up until you get to where you want to be. Success can be yours if you want it badly enough. And remember this; it is better to try and fail than never to have tried at all.

Never be afraid to try because there are no failures, only outcomes we didn’t want and lessons to be learned.

Daily Mantra:

Reinforce self-belief by repeating this daily mantra

I’m as good as anyone; I’m better than most; I will achieve success; nothing will stop me!

Go on, get started now. Success is waiting for you.

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If so, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

So please share it now. If you do, I’ll be ever so grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you.

Phil Sutton

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5 secret steps to tackling life and achieving success

01/26/2026 by

If you’re looking for a formula for achieving success, dear reader, then I think you might find this blog post useful.

Many desire success, but few really achieve it. So it’s useful to study successful people, identify their approaches, and use them as role models. If something worked for them, then it might just work for you.

In the embedded video, Hollywood legend, movie star, two-term Governor of California, and former Mr Universe, Arnold Schwarzenegger shares his five secret steps to tackling life and achieving success.

Essentially, these are his five rules to excel at whatever you choose to do.

He has an interesting story to tell, and his story proves that no obstacle is too big to overcome and no vision is too big to achieve if you’re determined enough and you’re prepared to work hard.

Achieving Success:

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Change the world:

To summarise Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rules, they are:-

  1. Find your vision and follow it;
  2. Never, ever think small;
  3. Ignore the Naysayers;
  4. Work your ass off; and
  5. Don’t just take, give something back.

However, if you listen to Arnold’s story, his burning desire was to move to the United States and become a big star. This was his reason why.

Initially, he had no idea how to achieve that goal, but a little piece of good fortune came his way.

Arnold happened to read an article in a magazine about a man just like him who achieved just what he wanted to achieve. The article explained how the man did it, and Arnold used that success template as the basis for pursuing his own goal.

Identify successful people and do what they did:

Once he knew his ‘why?‘, Arnold Schwarzenegger just needed to work out a way to get there. Knowing your ‘why?‘ will always, eventually, lead you to your ‘how?’.

Once Arnold knew his purpose and his passion, he was always going to find a way to achieve success. His determination and his willingness to do whatever was necessary saw to that.

Had he not been lucky enough to identify a role model through a magazine article, something else would have guided him because that’s the nature of life. When you’re searching for something, you’ll tune in to all the little clues you need.

Once you know your ‘why?’, you develop a keen sense of that subject and everyone else involved.

Trust yourself:

If you know your why, then you’ll have the drive and determination to pursue your goal.

Nothing happens by accident, of course. You must make it happen.

So figure out for yourself what it is you really, really want. What would make you happy? What would you regard as a real achievement?

Then find a role model.

Someone who’s done what you want to do. Identify how they did it and copy what they’ve done. If their approach worked for them, it can work for you.

Avoid distractions:

If you want to be successful, then don’t allow ‘time sucks’ to throw you off course.

Television and social media are the biggest time wasters of all. So avoid them.

Time is a precious resource, and successful people don’t waste it. So if you want to be successful, don’t waste your time either. Put every minute to good use.

Know your ‘Why?’

The key message today, both from this article and the embedded video, is that you must:

Know your ‘Why?’

That’s the starting point for success.

So if you’ve yet to do that then I suggest that’s where you start, if you want to be successful.

And remember this; if not you, who? If not now, when?

Achieving success is possible and people do it all the time. So can you, if you’re determined and prepared to work hard enough to get it.

Good luck.

Phil Sutton

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So go on, please share it now. If you can do that for me, I will be ever so grateful, and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support.

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