Advice My Parents Gave Me and Other Lessons I Learned From My Mistakes

By Rodolfo Costa

Some people just need a little motivation and reassurance to allow themselves to see beyond what others think is possible, wise, or practical, while others just need a little inspiration to use their imagination wisely so they can become part of a solution not part of a problem. Advice My Parents Gave Me, and Other Lessons I Learned From My Mistakes—provides that motivation, reassurance, and inspiration—409 practical, thought-provoking, “bite-sized” ideas and suggestions to encourage the reader to move forward to a successful and happy life, while becoming a better person in the process.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Rodolfo Costa
• Release date: Mar 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476457253

Rodolfo Costa

Rodolfo Costa was born in Lima, Peru. At age nineteen, without knowing what to expect, he said goodbye to his parents and immigrated to the United States. Through the difficulties and joys of life, with the advice received and the mistakes made, he learned to embrace the world in a different and more positive way, and now with immense gratitude for the knowledge he gained, he is able to share his earned wisdom in his new inspirational and motivational collection Advice My Parents Gave Me and Other Lessons I Learned From My Mistakes. Today, Rodolfo Costa continues his learning, sharing his knowledge, and evolving as a person and human being. He is a business owner, a Realtor, a teacher, and always a student. He lives in Northern California.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

This book is a collection of 409 thoughts, quotes, lessons, ideas, suggestions, reminders, words of advice and encouragement about life in general that were passed on to me by my parents or that I learned at one time or another throughout my life. It includes lessons I have learned from my mistakes and from my share of problems and setbacks. It touches on attitude, goals, responsibility, persistence, success, relationships, planning, personal/spiritual growth, and fulfillment.

This book is about seeing and experiencing life in a different way, about growing and evolving as a person and human being. You may already know, or may have heard, some of the advice, ideas, and lessons you are about to read. I hope and wish you are already implementing them in your life, but if not, perhaps you just need a little reminding—we all do. You may be reading some of the lessons for the first time. You may not agree with some of them. That is fine—we do not always share the same opinions and ideas—but I hope this book inspires you to think and reflect about your own life, your dreams, your goals, your aspirations, your circumstances, and your relationships. I want you to build the courage to create your own ideas, and to live your life to the fullest, striving to reach all of your dreams and goals, whatever they may be, so you can become a better, and more fulfilled, person than you were before. I want you to enjoy your family, your friends, and your time alone, to slow down to smell the roses and enjoy your life in general.

This book is about giving yourself choices without getting consumed with daily life. Do not ignore your daily responsibilities, but do not get consumed by them. Plan for tomorrow but live for today—live in the now. If you do what you need to do today, to the best of your ability, to accomplish your dreams and to live the life you want, tomorrow will take care of itself. Since all you have is today, squeeze every single minute of it and begin your change now.

I had been thinking about writing this book for a long time as I was hearing my parents’ voices in my mind and reliving some of the advice and life lessons I am about to share with you. But I just never got around to it. There was always some excuse, some interference—something more important. Time seemed to be moving faster and faster in front of my eyes, but I did not want to notice. I finally stopped giving myself excuses not to do it and set up a deadline—my fiftieth birthday.

Like most of us, I have had my share of successes and disappointments, but I must say that, overall, life has been wonderful to me. Unfortunately, for a while I was too busy within my own world to realize that and became complacent. Now, after doing some soul searching, thinking about my life experiences, my ups and downs, my joys and sorrows, my dreams and plans, my achievements and disappointments—my existence in general—I can say with all conviction that I am grateful for what I have learned from my parents, grateful for what I have experienced, grateful for what I have been taught by every one of life’s battles, especially the ones that I lost. I am grateful for my existence. This is how I choose to think, and now this is how I choose my life to be—wonderful! No excuses!

Unfortunately, most of us live by default. We all have dreams, ideas, and plans for our lives, for what we want to achieve, for what we want to become, yet a lot of us never accomplish what we dream. For one reason or another, we do not really seem to want what we say we want— although we say we want it—we lack the motivation, enthusiasm, and determination to get it. This may be because we do not see or have an idea as to how we are going to turn our dreams into reality, so we never give ourselves the opportunities to make them happen.

I always heard dream until your dreams come true, but I also learned that dreaming alone would not make those dreams come true; I had to take some action to realize and fulfill them.

Reviews for Advice My Parents Gave Me and Other Lessons I Learned From My Mistakes

[bilja_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really didn't expect to win this book but it has brought a new breeze in my life. Actually it is 'just' a collection o thoughts, which might be regarded as obvious, known, popular, and so on.It is not so.This is the most positive, nice and inspiring night-table book I ever had. The cover is gay, a nice yellow you can never miss among thousand things, and it is light, perfect for its purpose. Once in my life I had to leave many books behind, if it happens again this book will came with me, even if this might sound silly. I wish good luck to the author. I do not know if this is gonna by his only book but it deserved to be printed and deserves to be read by those ones wishing to treat themselves while engaging the struggling wonderful everyday battle of life.

[avon1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a thoughtful little book filled with life quotes. It is one of those books you will hang on to forever and when you find yourself questioning life, you can open it up. It is full of wisdom on almost every life subject. It is truly inspiring. This is a good book to pass down to the younger generation.

[skout_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This little book is a grand collection of pearls of wisdom and practical and applicable advice and recommendations for leading a more fulfilled and rewarding life. I would recommend this book to anyone!

[crazypsychobooklover · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Advice My Parents Gave Me: and Other Lessons I Learned from My MistakesAuthor: Rodolfo CostaPublisher: AuthorHouseISBN: 978-1-4490-2552-6This is a truly entertaining, delightful and thought provoking collection of 409 quotes, lessons, thoughts, words of advice and encouragement. The author gleaned these from his own life experiences and a far-ranging variety of sources.Reading this book will offer a venue into looking at your own life experiences, past mistakes, family history and future aspirations. By taking the time to read this book, page by page or section at a time, you can find the determination, motivation and understanding you need to move forward in your life.I think this book would be a wonderful tool for personal reflection and future reference; to take from your bookshelf like an old and caring friend when you need encouragement, a boost of determination, or just a thought-provoking meditation to help you remind yourself what is truly important in your life. I plan to keep it in mind as an excellent gift for an upcoming graduate or a friend pondering a change of circumstance in their own life.

[beckvalleybooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like the way the book is divided into separate chapters and emotions, making it much easier for you to find the helpful quotes you need quickly. Full of hints and encouraging snippets of advice on different aspects of how we live our lives,. The layout of the book is simplistic and basic and is laid out into individual bullet points which are sharp and straight to the point but some of them could do with a little bit more explanation on how you could change or what you do do better.Would be great to keep with you at all times, just to pick up and re-read the thought provoking sections you need to uplift your spirit to help you get through.The author does stress the point that you should be really grateful for what you have achieved and acquired in your life and in order to progress, you cannot harbor resentment or regrets and to every problem you can work out a solution.Anyone who is looking to change the way they lead their life or looking for inspiration, this book would be great for them to read. We can still learn from other people and if we keep all our secrets they will be lost forever, fortunately, this will never happen with this book.