I love a good superhero (especially a black superhero). As a child on the playground I would pretend to be Wolverine or Bishop or any other crazy X-Men character or DC god. I was fascinated by their powers and ability to overcome great evil. As an adult, I finally see a way we can all be superheroes to the ones we love and help each other overcome great obstacles. We all can’t fly, but we can emulate these mythical gods in our own way.
Invest your extra money
Make your extra money work for you. Practice skipping the snack runs, cancel some streaming services, and maybe buy one huge video game to last you a while. Take all that extra cash you are sitting on and invest it. Think long term like Batman or Kingpin.
Investing your money gives you a contingency plan and a way to stabilize your future. Apps like Acorns help you invest your change so you don’t even have to think about it. Larger apps like Betterment can be your online financial advisor and help you plan for big purchases like homes or family vacations. Avoid random spending and make your money make more money.
Learn to code
The more skills you have, the more undeniable you become. Coding is a very lucrative and valuable skill to many companies. We live in an age where everything needs some kind of app, or website, or VR set up. Who do you think builds those things? Coders.
Developers get a bad wrap sometimes. People give them shit for sitting in front of a computer, head down, writing code. I never understood that. You do know they are making money as they type, right? You can too. Websites like Codecademy and Pluralsight can put you on the path to becoming an indispensable fixture to the company of your choice, or better yet, your own clients. If it’s good enough for Mr. Terrific, it should be good enough for you.
Start a (black superhero) business
Speaking of your own clients, start your own (black superhero) business. No, don’t become a vigilante. Going to school, paying all that money for your education, then going out into the world to beg for a job seems counter-productive. Instead of walking up to a business with hat in hand, asking for the privilege to make them more money, make your own money by starting your very own company.
You don’t need to prove your skills to start your own business. There is no need to interview yourself. You don’t even need to get dressed. Go on LegalZoom.com or Incfile.com, pick a name, pay the fee and be your own boss. Start a family business and make sure you and the ones you love fail or, more likely, succeed on the strength of your own hustle.
Fail
No one wins all the time. Even The Avengers lost. What will define you as a real superhero is getting back up and moving forward. Get prepared to fail and fail a lot. Stop thinking failure is bad. It’s essential to learning. Fail, dust yourself off, and start again.
Failure means you did something and it didn’t work. That’s a lot better than doing nothing and not failing. Get off your ass an do. If it doesn’t work this time, do something else. Or do whatever it is you failed at, just better and more well informed. FAIL!
Mentor others
Icon and Rocket. Storm and the Xavier Institute students. T’Chaka and T’Challa. Mentors shape the world. The greatest power you have is your knowledge. Passing that on is essential to building future superheroes. If you have a skill, pass it on. And not just to your kids. Be a black superhero to anyone in need of your advice.
Mentoring someone is an amazing feat. Helping people avoid unnecessary pitfalls and providing sound guidance is invaluable to human success. Hoarding knowledge is the most super villain thing possible. Don’t be selfish with all that great know how. Write blog posts about what you do. Make videos, go to conferences, speak at schools. At some point, someone will ask you to guide them. Be a hero and put them on the path to greatness.
Learn a second (or third) language
This is so imperative I am going to repeat the title. Learn a second or third language. Start today. Start right now. Just start. The world is getting smaller and smaller with the advent of new technologies, and this thing called the internet that we are all on every waking moment. Knowing your native language won’t be enough in the future.
Convince yourself you are going to learn said language to expand you business to new markets. Believe it’s to find love in a new land. Say whatever you must to get yourself prepped to learn some languages. It can only help you.
Take jiu jitsu or Krav Maga classes
If you aren’t doing it already, go take a jiu jitsu class. Not into rolling around choking people? Take a boxing class. Not overly fond of punching people in the face (seriously, why not?) take a Krav Maga class. Whatever you do, learn to protect yourself. Do you think Miles Morales is walking around not knowing how to defend himself? I know he has spider powers, that’s not the point!
Eddie Bravo of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu said this (this is like…third-hand information). Take one jiu jitsu class. It will prepare you to defend yourself from most untrained people. That stat raises exponentially the more classes you take. Don’t be caught unaware out there. This goes double for the super women out there. Get in class and learn to choke everyone you meet unconscious.
Eat healthy(ish) and Work Out twice a week
Skip the McDonald’s, grab a salad. Ditch the soda and start loving water. Lift something heavy for 30 mins two days a week. Your body will thank you. Your loved ones will thank you. The healthier you are, the easier life gets. Trust me. Carrying around excess weight is a strain on your body and mind.
Don’t get me wrong, you shouldn’t completely change your lifestyle. Substituting some of the more questionably healthy meals for something legitimately good for you will extend your life and metal health as well. Try using apps like MyFitnessPal to track your calories or Habitbull to remind you to eat healthy everyday. We just want you to stick around.
Read a little everyday
Books. Comics. Digital articles. Tutorials. Read something everyday. If you commute, use that time. You will be surprised how good it makes you feel. If you really want to get started on writing your story, reading is the first step. How else will you know how to write if you don’t read good writing?
Buy books from a local business, ingest all the fantastic stories you can and pass those books on to someone else. Rinse repeat. Ask your friends if they have recommendations on good literature like Motor Crush or the Shuri comic series. Read some non-fiction too. I bet Blue Marvel is a reader. That dude is a genius, he didn’t get that way by NOT reading.
Be Positive
Say hi to people. Call a friend up and remind them you love them. Call whoever raised you to be awesome and make sure they know you appreciate it. Hold doors open. Shake hands. Smile. Laugh. Tell a bad joke. Tell a DAD joke (which are the opposite of bad). I can go on and on. Just be a positive person.
It’s very easy to get lost in the negative. You are bombarded with it each day. Turn the tide and make someones day better. Trust me that it will make your day better too. It will make you a true hero. Spread positive vibes and enjoy the sunshine.
Stop waiting. Start living
Want to be a black superhero? Get to it. Whatever that positive, life-changing thing is that you want to do, go do it right the hell now. You want to be your own hero by taking life by the horns, now is the time. What are you waiting for exactly? The summer? For the check to come in? For your life to be in order? Guess what, life is chaos. There is no order, or anything even remotely close to a “perfect time”.
As far as we all know, we get one go at this thing called life. One shot. Are you going to let others dictate your success or happiness? I hope you screamed “No!” at the screen. Get up and go do it. Travel to far off lands. Dance like everyone wants to see you do it. Start a business and generate generational wealth. Get out there and find Mr or Ms right. Buy a suit. Get out and buy the booming headphones you love. Build a PC. Have a couple kids. Frolic in a meadow (or the park). Buy a home. Draw. WHATEVER!
Just do it right now. Go now. Stop reading my ramblings and go do it right now, right, now, RIGHT NOW!
Be someones hero
Are you ready to be a black superhero? Anything I missed in this list? Let us know what you think. Subscribe to the podcast and tell a friend!
