Once you hit your 20s, you’ve completed all the ‘tutorial’ levels of life and start exploring adulthood. Unfortunately, because you are still new to this ‘game’, you don’t pick the most optimal path and end up wasting a lot of time, effort, and money. If I had my time again, I wish I did these 5 things in my 20s.
1. Avoid too much immediate gratification
My 20s were probably the typical journey for most people, too much time spent on meaningless activities aimed at getting immediate gratification with little to no regard for the future. I mean, I get it, your 20s are still the stage where you subconsciously think you’re invincible, you don’t have any signs of wear and tear, and your perception of time makes you think you’ll live forever. While I acknowledge that I have some pretty enjoyable memories from this period, I wish I had limited the amount of immediate gratification I pursued; junk food, video games and unnecessary, lavish expenses to name a few. To get ahead in your 20s, I’d recommend a more disciplined, moderated approach to ‘fun’ things. Pursue the things that are difficult as well as indulging in immediate gratification, only some of those things will become memories while the rest is forgotten, but results from improving yourself carry on.
2. Travel
Unfortunately in my 20s I was extremely frugal when thinking about travel, but needlessly spent money on lavish purchases that ultimately provided no value. While I did have some travel adventures, I did not pursuit nearly enough. Not only is travel excellent in broadening your perspective on life, but it also provides you with ‘memory dividends’. Long after you have completed your trip, you will still carry on the memories of your adventures, extending your ‘mental return on investment’ into your future years. This would have been a much better investment than wasting a lot on alcohol or luxury goods. Though, if I’m honest with myself, fear of the unknown probably contributed to avoiding travel as well, so if you also suffer from the same thing, let me make it clear that you, like me, will probably regret not travelling more in the future.
3. Invest in myself and my future
Investing financially, in myself, and in my health would have been a huge game changer by the time I would have hit my 30s. I did not start investing in my health and fitness until a relationship breakdown threw my life upside down, and gave me the epiphany that if I’d want to attract a quality partner, I would need to be of a certain quality myself. I was vastly overweight and did no fitness activities, eating junk food and spending my time playing video games. I also did not do anything to ‘better’ myself in general. It wasn’t until I started investing financially that I started investing in myself in terms of skills and knowledge. I was too busy escaping reality rather than forging a better one. I now understand the importance of knowledge and skills in terms of philosophy, relationships, and leading a quality, happy life. Finally, but definitely not least, I wish I had started financially investing earlier. I did not start my investing journey until I was 27, but now that I know the power of compounding, if I had started off at 20 I would be so much closer to my financial goals. Like they say, the best time to invest was 30 years ago, the second best time is today.
4. Try less to impress others
Much of my 20s was spent thinking about what others thought of me, or making sacrifices to impress others. It led to over spending on items in superficial attempts to impress people, or appear a certain way. Making all the sacrifices I did for others led to me reaching my worst point mentally. I didn’t take care of myself, and I didn’t realise the importance of being your own champion. I remember looking at old people and realising that they often care little of what others think (which is why they say such outrageous things!). I realised that as I get older, my care for what others think would be less. You start to learn that your reason for pursuing others attention comes from something within, and it’s far more important to identify that within yourself than to chase something that ultimately will never make you feel completely happy. Remember to be your own champion and fight for your happiness, yours is just as important.
5. Have a clear goal for the future
One of the biggest realizations I’ve had which I wish I had known earlier was to have a clear goal for the future. In the past I thought that meant what job I should have, but I realize most people are not asking the right question. You should be asking, what do I want to achieve from life? Jobs should not be the sole purpose of your life, it’s what experiences do you want to have? Do you want children? Where would you like to live? The big life questions. These are much better questions to ask that specifying what occupation you should pursue. People at death’s door often regret working too much and the sad realization is we constantly brain wash ourselves to forget that our demise is inevitable. Take the time to figure out what you want from your life, and then make calculated steps towards pursuing them. I’ve started to dig deep in terms of what I want, where I want to live, and what I want to experience, it’s these outcomes that you should be striving towards.
While I can’t turn back the clock, I hope if you’re reading this in your twenties that you take some of this onboard. Much of your goals and life outlook will change from when you start your 20s to when you start your 30s. If you make some concerted effort towards addressing these now, you’ll find you will be grateful for it later in life.
