1. Your life is hard

When you strive to attain your goals, it will always be tough no matter what they are. You will face jealousy from those who want you to stay at their level, you will face failure on a weekly basis, you will go through extreme doubt about your decisions, you will ponder the meaning of life at the worst possible times and you will want to go back to your unfulfilling yet comfortable previous existence. But somehow you always find a way to stay on top and in control of the situation, by having the courage and perseverance to always get back up and consistently work towards your dream.

2. You’re honest with yourself

Hard doesn’t always equal good. You have the ability to quickly realize when you’re wasting your time in a rotten venture and you make the right decisions to make it change. You don’t stay in situations that constantly undermine your potential and your future. All the positive thinking, the good life habits and the perseverance wouldn’t mean a damn thing if you worked a 9 to 5 job that feels like walking barefoot on a carpet of rusty nails.

3. You invest in the long term

Parties, hookups, cookies, video games, TV and movies are all necessary, but they don’t give anything more than the few seconds of joy that don’t last beyond the moment. Focusing on activities that bring long term benefits won’t give you anything until five or maybe ten years. But then you will realize the little changes you brought to your life have been accumulating to make you a better, more successful person in all those areas that matter.

4. Last week is old news for you

You quickly forgive, forget and move on from your past mistakes, no matter how big they are. If something doesn’t interfere directly with your life or still have consequences to it right now, then it’s not relevant anymore. You apply the same principles with people, as you don’t spend energy holding grudges. Instead, you mercilessly kick those bad seeds out of your life without wasting your time settling scores.

5. You build instead of destroying

Upon making radical decisions to their life, people are often tempted to lash out at their flaws and themselves thinking it would incite quicker changes and results. But you focus on the right things you should be doing instead of reminding yourself of the wrong things you shouldn’t be doing. Consequently, that’s how you would raise your kids: you would put more effort on giving them praise when they adopt the right attitude instead of spending energy on punishing them when they don’t.

6. You seek balance

You understand you can’t work hard and be successful without having the other parts of your life together. You take the time to sit down and listen to music for a good hour many times a week. You take walks in parks or forests to breathe the good weather and be appeased by the wind and trees around you. You make effort to create real connections with people even if you never see them again. You have a challenging and satisfying job, but you manage it intelligently so it doesn’t spill all over your free time and personal life.

7. You trust your gut

You learned to listen to your instincts and act accordingly, because every time you didn’t, you regretted it deeply. When you meet people, your gut judges them for the first few seconds and rapidly draws a conclusion. Then they start talking to try to feed you a different impression. When your gut tells you someone is dishonest, it’s always right.

8. You have internal references

There was a time when the youth could listen to their elders, follow their wisdom and apply their teachings to their life without many modifications. There were well detailed predefined paths that you could follow to attain a certain level of glory without having to reinvent the wheel. But that hardly applies to our generation, as everything changes at light speed, society is not straightforward anymore and uncertainty is the norm. In this world of chaos, deceptive propaganda, and covert self-interest, you have learned to be your own parent and teacher. You have raised yourself and created your own thriving reality without seeking validation or instructions from anyone else.