I don’t think I was normal growing up. I’ve always had an itch for something better than mediocrity. My dad remained stern and strict, engraving achievement, and hard-wiring performance from a young age. I’ve always admired the work ethic of my parents; the amount of effort, the restless days and nights running their business – but not to enjoy the fruits of their labor, not to fulfill the distant American Dream, but instead to ensure their children enjoyed a life worth living. Reflecting back to when I was young, I realized that far too many times I would always ask my parents “why”, rather than thanking them for everything they’ve done for me. Asking questions such as “why did Calvin get this toy”, or “why does Jason get to go places”, instead of thanking them for buying me items and showing me around. Realizing that most children naturally act like this, I began developing myself and ensuring myself that my parents will reap the rewards they deserve, almost to the point where it became an obsession.

Realizing my life-skills and verbal skills needed developing, I landed my first job working at CVS Pharmacy as a pharmacy technician. Being the youngest employee there at age 19, I quickly worked my way up to Lead Technician within 6 months. After countless phone-calls to insurance companies at the job, and countless phone-calls and faxes to doctor’s offices, I picked up numerous tricks of the trade and began developing. The fast-paced environment kept us on our toes, especially since patients lives were at risk.

This is when I began noticing a trend. It was a rare occurrence to see a selfless individual. Most of society, I realized, tended to focus on oneself and his/her own benefit. While this is a natural occurrence, I couldn’t help but notice my younger, more selfish habits radiate off of individuals.  At this point, I began networking, reading personal development books, more networking, more reading, more networking and developing.

It’s as if a puzzle came together. Over the course of a few short years, I shook hands with extremely powerful people, became acquainted with successful business owners, started projects with individuals who make 6 figures per year, spoke in front of hundreds of business professionals numerous times, developed relationships with millionaires, gained a few multi-millionaire mentors. What did I learn? These individuals had work ethic, desire, motivation. However, most importantly, they were compassionate and benevolent – always caring about others. This is how we all need to conduct ourselves.