Mindset is everything. Absolutely everything. Your mindset is what will help form you into the person you will be 10 years from now. Will you be financially stable with a degree and a few kids? Will you be broke and still doing what you're doing now? It all depends on your MINDSET. You can be the most intelligent person in the world, but if your mind isn't right, you won't achieve what you're capable of achieving.

I've always been academically smart. Although, I never cared enough to apply myself. I skipped classes throughout high school. I even skipped entire days just to sit at home because I didn't want to be there. When I realized I had a problem, I automatically blamed it on my environment. I thought, hey, maybe real school just isn't for me. Maybe I would be better off doing online school. So, I enrolled in online school but nothing changed. I NEVER took the time to do my classes, because I had no self-discipline. Years later, looking back from a COMPLETELY different standpoint, I can honestly say that I have no one to blame but myself for not succeeding like I could have.

My priorities were way out of order first of all. School should have been my first priority at the time, then a job and then a social life or whatever else. But I had everything completely backwards. Friends came first. Parties came first. Plans came first. What is another reason I couldn't succeed? I wasn't surrounding myself with the right company. How can you be motivated if everyone around you is so pessimistic and only worried about next Thursday at the club?

It may not seem like it now, but who you surround yourself with is actually very important. We, as humans, are often easily influenced and don't even realize it half the time. If none of your friends are worried about school, you'll probably be stuck in that mindset too. (If you weren't, you would've found better friends by now.) I ended up wasting way too much time doing things that I probably shouldn't have been doing. I could have actually used that time to do my schooling, but instead, I blew it.

Motivation is huge when it comes to success. We all want to be successful, right? I mean, who doesn't? In order to do so, you have to find a way to become motivated. If you don't have a good support group (family/friends), then all you really have is yourself. Which can be tough but if I did it, I'm sure you can too. You really have to completely change the way you think. It takes time, and it isn't easy. But I promise you it's worth it.

You kind of have to realize that clubs, parties, etc. will always be there. But opportunities to succeed in life will not. We all have different ideas of success. Whether it be financial, mental, etc., I can assure you that you're not going to find that success while you're out drinking with people who couldn't care less what you do with yourself. So what you have to do is sit down and really think of who you need in your life. It's tough, but you have to gradually start cutting people off. It's hard figuring out who to cut off and who to give a chance, but listen, if they're not motivating you or growing with you, drop them. If they're more concerned with social media fame and favorites than bettering themselves and furthering their education, drop them. If you notice that they pressure you into doing things other than what you should be doing, drop them. And, you may be even left with no one. Sometimes that's how it goes. But this is the part where you learn to love yourself. I know it sounds cheesy, but you have to love yourself and care for yourself in order to motivate yourself and work hard for your future. And sometimes, the best way to learn how to love yourself is when you have no choice to. When you have no one but yourself, you'll realize that YOU are what's most important and that you need to push yourself to do better for YOU. No one else. No need to worry about what anyone else is doing, because you've got YOU. Now, everyone has different goals and different ideas for their future. If you plan on going to college, find friends who also are motivated to do so. If you plan on working rather than college, then find friends who have a good work ethic like you do. If you plan to be a singer, a makeup artist, a stripper- ANYTHING, find friends who will support what YOU do and have common ground with you at the same time. The more support you end up gaining, the easier you may find it to be to achieve your goals.

Some people allow the smallest things to hold them back from success. I would say one of the top things would be shitty relationships. Sometimes it's better off just to end the relationship with that person rather than holding onto something that doesn't push you or motivate you. I can't even begin telling you how many people I know that have so much potential, but don't even use it, because they're wasting all of their energy on a bad relationship. But I guess that's for a different blog post. I could rant about that all day. The main point is, figure out what you want. Set goals for yourself. Make a to-do list. Eliminate the negativity from your life. Find a better support system. Learn to love yourself. Grow. Push yourself. And always always always keep the idea in mind of the future you want. Realize that it can be easily attainable, as long as you want it bad enough.