I just checked off my bucket list today!

Book Review: Wisdom Meets Passion - When Generations Collide and Collaborate by Dan Miller || Jared Angaza

Nope not that attention-seeking 'Cambodiaaaaaaaa' viral guy in social media...

But really, I did checked one thing off of my bucket list, and that is to finish an entire book in less than 24 hours!

To tell you the truth, the entirety of excavating the book for precious information took me approximately 6 hours -- that's 3.5 and 2.5 hours of reading within the day, I can't read for 5 hours straight YET, my mind gets overwhelmed way too quickly with too much information-gathering in one sitting. 

Probably the main point of this writing is to justify to myself that I didn't just do book skimming, but I really understood each and every nook and cranny of the masterpiece of New York Times Best-Selling Author Dan Miller.

Allow me to share a short summary of how the book conveyed its message to me. 

What Dan Miller did in this book is compare and contrast the mindset of the Millennials to that of the Baby Boomers and the Gen-X. Dan himself belonging to the latter, knew that his generation's formula in order to achieve success in life is that, you must possess wisdom. That is to finish college, work so you can pay your college debts, buy a house, car and that gold watch that you've been wanting to have since you were still a teenager and finally settle for that 401(k) that you've been paying your whole life. 

However, having conducted life coaching and being exposed to stories of other people. Dan knew that he had to learn about the other end of the spectrum, and that is how Millennials really formulate their lives towards success. 

Dan learned that what drives Millennials is not their wisdom, but their passion.

I, being a millennial myself, believe that in order to attain that purpose in life, you must have passion. You must really believe that what you are doing will help you achieve your goals. 

This book just solidified my current mindset. It made me realize that wisdom is not enough to succeed, neither does having passion alone will guarantee success. Both are necessary. 

Let me just paraphrase a statement from the book here,

"Baby boomers have relied on wisdom to pave the way to success. Education, 401(k)s, and carefully contrived career paths were expected to lead to success in one's golden years. Seeing the overall failure of that formulaic approach to life, millennials today have relied on passion as the guiding principle for their success. Just find something cool to do; forget having a mortgage and a BMW in the driveway."

You know, I'm always emphasizing the word YET, I really don't know why. But I realized, just now, while I'm writing this that the word 'yet' is what somehow reflects my current mindset. According to the dictionary meaning of the word, "up until the present or a specified or implied time; by now or then." 

Basically this implies that I'm always setting goals for myself. I can't read books for a long period of time YET. I can't apply what I read YET. I'm not that knowledgeable about business YET. I'm not an entrepreneur and a chief executive officer YET. But in time, I WILL. There's no one stopping me but myself. And that's what most people must and should believe in. Not that woman next door who constantly gossip about you, not those people who try to put you down, not your average joe who looks at you differently because of your uniqueness and not your friends or family. 

You, and you alone can dictate your future. People may inspire or discourage you but still, at the end of the day, the decision is yours to make. Never ever stop learning because even ultra-rich people like Warren Buffett devotes 80% of his entire day to reading! He reads around 600-1000 pages a day! Take note, he is the third richest person in the world. Who gives you the mentality that you don't need to learn and study anymore? Let me talk some sense into him. 

Maybe in your current situation, YOU CAN'T YET. But once you get a hold of your life and start working on the necessary things that will lead you to your goal, YOU WILL. Please always remember that.