How to Live Like the Amish: 4 Profound Life Lessons

1. Anyone can start a business

The first thing I learned from the Amish is anyone can start a business. We've been close friends with an Amish family for two years now, and most Amish only go to school until the 8th grade. They don't have access to the Internet or other information we have. 

If I wanted to start a firewood business, I could look on the Internet or network with people. However, every single Amish family I know runs a business or multiple businesses.

Some people will say that the Amish don't need that much money. They grow their food. False. Our Amish friends have nine children. They have a large house with acreage. They go to the store. They go to the hardware store. They go to the grocery store. They grow most of their food, but they still have considerable expenses. 

They all run their businesses from their property, from their homestead. So how do the Amish do this? I've learned they don't make excuses. 

So many non-Amish people I know, when they're asking me about my business and what we do, always say, "I could never do that," "Oh, I don't have the time for that," or other reasons they won't start their own business. 

I don't have any fear of failure. I embraced failure because there would be no success without failing. What would be a huge failure to me would be continuing to work in a job that I hate under fluorescent lights in an office for 12 hours a day for the rest of my life until I'm an old man or never doing anything I've enjoyed, and I've just worked for the man my entire life. 

2. Forging effective partnerships

The second thing I've learned from the Amish is about effective partnerships and seeking expert counsel and advice. 

If you think about some of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, they all have something in common: they all had effective partnerships.

Bill Gates had Paul Allen. Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak. Hewlett had Packard. If you look at all great entrepreneurs, most of them had some sort of partner or advisor giving them wisdom and helping them make decisions. 

It's the same thing with the Amish. The Amish will not start a large project, a business, or some endeavor without seeking the advice and wisdom of the elders in their community. So if you need a cabinet builder, you see this guy. If you need expertise growing wheat or corn, there's an expert for everyone. 

I've done the same thing over the years in my life when starting different businesses. I'm always looking to seek advice and counsel from people that have done it already, who have already made the mistakes and had the failures that can tell you.

3. Have no fear

The third thing I've learned from the Amish, which was the most profound, is that they have no fear whatsoever. You see non-Amish guys walking around acting as if they aren't scared of anything, but they're afraid, have anxiety or dread, or worry about their paycheck or what's happening in the world. 

The Amish have no fear whatsoever. It's not just that they don't have fear; it's that they have 100% faith in God. They leave everything in God's hands.

Their approach is, let's worry about things when they become a problem. They wonder, can we prepare and be safe? Yes. But do we have to sit here and worry about it, watch every news article, and constantly lose sleep over it, over and over again for years and years and years? They don't do that, so they have an incredible amount of time and energy to focus on things that matter, like their family, God, church, homestead, and growing their food. 

Think of how much we worry about things that never come to fruition.

4. Change yourself to change the world

The fourth thing I've learned about the Amish is the best way you can change the world is by changing yourself. You can never change someone else. 

The Amish are focused on themselves. Why would it bother them what someone else is doing when they have no impact on it? There's nothing they can do to change it. 

Instead, they focus on whether they are the best person they can be. Are they the best father, husband, friend, or uncle? Are they the best business person they can be? If you focus on yourself and change yourself, you can have a ripple effect that will change others around you. It'll change your world. 

How to live like the Amish

Those were four lessons I've learned from the Amish. To recap - Anyone can start a business. To succeed in a business or large endeavor, you must have effective partnerships. Have no fear, have no anxiety, and worry about things when they become a problem. The best way to change your world is to change yourself first. 

I hope these things help you learn how to live like the Amish. Following these four lessons can achieve your goals and have a happy, fulfilling life.