What made me who I am today?

There are many people, experiences and events around us who shapes us into who we are, and what we will become. Important for me has been both my lovely parents, my sisters and relatives. I love you all for who you are and for everything we’ve shared together. You’re all part of what makes me.

Throughout some of my early jobs or hobbies I’ve also been lucky with having some great mentors around me who went beyond their role as employer or friend and gave me new perspective on things, taught me lessons for life or otherwise contributed to what makes me. Perhaps one day I’ll write a whole blog post about each one of them and what they’ve meant for me. But for now I just want to say — Thank You — Thomas, Fredrik and Thomas.

In this blog post however, I’m going to focus on another person, someone who I think a lot about these days — my paternal grandfather Bengt. He will soon turn 84, but for his 80th birthday the booklet “Bengt’s sayings” was put together with some of his words of wisdom. These are words that certainly helped me shape me into who I am today and how I sometimes go about life. And I want to share some of these words with you all (translated from Swedish).

About getting things done

If you don’t do anything, you won’t do any mistakes.

No one is perfect. The fact that you sometimes do mistakes is because you actually did something. It’s better to do something and risk doing mistakes than doing nothing and no mistakes.

You must let time work.

Be patient and don’t rush things. Let time be your friend.

About managing setbacks

It’s an advantage.

My grandfather always put a positive spin on everything and that’s something I’ve certainly inherited from him. There’s always a positive that can be taken out of something negative.

It’s refreshing.

Setbacks are often what refreshes us. Not in the sense that setbacks are fun or anything. But setbacks are what makes us more experienced, stronger or smarter. In that sense, the outcome of a setback can often be refreshing. Keeping that in mind will help you get through rough patches in life.

About going through life

Never walk empty-handed on the Bilxås track.

Bilxås was the local motocross track where my dad and my uncle used to train a lot. The quote refer to the fact that you should always pick-up and throw-away big stones that surfaced on the dirt track (to make it safer for the riders). But the quote also refer to something larger — always carry your weight and put your best foot forward with anything you do in life.

You must always make it into the documents.

This one is about being consistent, about showing up and always doing your best. If you do so, you’ll always be recognized and your name will always make it into the documents (or in the race results as it were). You don’t have to be the best, you just got to do your best.

About having the right attitude

If the kid is interested enough he can ride on a steel bed.

As long as you’re interested enough, passionate enough, or want something bad enough, then anything is possible no matter what the circumstances are.

My monies are special. They’re enough for everything I need.

You don’t need a lot of money to be happy. Keep things simple, make do with what you’ve got, and enjoy life!