What does it take to be successful? No matter what your definition of success is, you know that it’s not easy to achieve it.

Even a simple definition of success like “I want to live life on my own terms” requires hard work. Every sane person who aspires to live a good life understands that.

But when people start talking about the things you have to give up for success, I think they are going down a dark path. No matter what you’re trying to achieve in life; under no circumstances should you “sacrifice” anything.

“But what about all the hard work you’re talking about? I need to sacrifice all the other things I want to do.”

The answer to that question is simple. No one said it better than Tony Robbins:

One of the biggest mistakes we make is that we assume we always learn from our mistakes. I’ve met enough people who learned little from their own stupidity.

We all know these people. In fact, we probably are these people. You know why? It’s damned hard to learn from your mistakes. I’ve never met someone who actually enjoyed failing.

Let’s be honest, no one likes to make mistakes, and lose their time, energy, or money. So that’s why we need to make an effort to learn from the things that we wish we didn’t do. The father of functional philosophy and pragmatist philosophy, John Dewey, made that point obvious:

“The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.”

Learning from your mistakes does not happen automatically—it requires thinking and reflection. So here’s my reflection on the lessons I learned from the mistakes I made in my twenties. Here we go.

Your character is defined by values. And your core values are the result of your behavior. Aristotle said it best:

“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.”

For example, when you always tell the truth, you become an honest person. It’s as simple as that. And yet, we collectively underestimate the importance of values.

We think our values have everything to do with how we are perceived. But that’s not why values matter.

Values have a great impact on our inner world. They define us. They form the foundation of our character.

And since you have to live with yourself, your values should be one of the most important things in your life.