A useful list for all the early twenties out there
Now, the title of this story might be a bit grammatically confusing — no need to pay much attention to it though.
The point is, being currently 25, I really wish I had done these things sooner when I was in my early 20s!
Obviously, being currently 25 there is still a lot that I need to learn in life. But if there was such a thing as time machine, I would certainly pick up more of these things below.
No regret for sure.
But it would have been nice if I was more in tune and sane about my habits back then.
And maybe You could learn and take value from my own mistakes!
1. Not writing sooner
I really wish I had started writing sooner.
In my early 20s, I already had the inclination of writing, and posting my work to some sort of platform on the internet — but of course I then procrastinated.
I genuinely believe writing is the most impactful habit that you should start as soon as possible, preferably in your 20s..
There are tons of potential benefits of writing daily, including:
- Improve your articulation skills and vocabs
- Make you more creative
- Help you to learn better
- Honestly, it’s a cool habit to have (yeah writers are cool people)
Had I done it sooner, I probably would have been able to reap bigger benefit, like bigger audience and more opportunities for myself.
The truth is, you don’t have to always write publicly. You can just start writing in your journal daily — as long as you start writing and putting more reps and reps every day.
2. Spending money on Courses
Broke, dumb, and having an endless time on my hand — that was me during my early 20s.
So rather than spending my valuable time drinking and hauling at girls, I spent most of my times learning.
Truth be told, I learned everything on the net: business book, how to get rich 1o1, ebook on fitness, Spanish class, crypto free courses — you name it.
I tried to learn everything.
Why? Because I had to much time on my hands and because I had nothing else better to do.
Perfect combo, right?
Wrong!
Turned out: I did not understand no damn things about what I had learned.
Zero.
The truth is, free stuff are free for very obvious reason.
They are often not to specific, targeted, and less structured than the paid one.
“what is worse than trying to learn everything is trying to learn without a plan”
It’s like a mental masturbation to your brain.
You keep on choking your brain with new information, new free learning materials without even thinking the relevancy and practicallity of that information.
Now, I would rather pay someone for a course, or get one of those paid online classes to learn about certain topics that are relevant to my practical life.
That way, it is much more structured,
and I can also be more discipline and accountable — because I pay it with my god damn money.
3. Focusing on lifting weight, not cardio
I think in your 20s is the best period when you should go hard on your body.
Not talking about eating ramen noodle and cola 24/7 though.
In my 20s, I honestly focused so much on running with my friends, running again, do those burpees for hours and hours — no wonder I was so skinny like a stick.
I’m no gym expert here. But I think your 20–25 are the best time for you to hit hard on your dumbble, lift heavy shit, and push your body to its limit.
If you can do it as early as possible — more power to you.
4. Consume more educational contents, and less entertainment
I still remember I use to watched a lot of prank videos during my early 20s. Like a lot.
Not gonna lie, those were freaking funny back in the days.
Prank videos for hours and hours, social experiments done by random dudes on YouTube,
And a bunch of comedy show by different stand up comedians on the internet.
Not to mention, those self-indulgence moments usually be accompanied with excessive binge eating and drinking.
Nice.
If I could’ve done differently, I would consume more self-improvement media instead, rather than all of those endless entertainment medias.
More contents that improve my life daily, get me better, smarter, instead of those contents that sedate me.
5. Embrace to be different
At 25, I’m embracing more and more about my distinct quality as a person.
What the heck I mean by that?
Growing up blind, this has been a constant battle that I have to deal with every single day.
But now, I try to see it as a “X” factor that set me apart from other dudes or gals out there.
In my early 20s, things were obviously different back then.
I always wanted to be a part of the group. The cool kids. Hiding my unique qualities to assimilate with the crowd.
What happened was, I prevented myself from becoming the real me.
I’d say, the older you are, the more you should embrace the true you.
The beast inside, the things you use to see as your shortcomings, but actually your unique qualities.
This is a lesson you need to experience. The sooner you realize about this, the better your life become.
6. Start meditating
Honestly, I started doing meditation just recently.
Every time I meditate, it is so damn difficult to concentrate and be presence — making me even more convince that I must learn this habit!
I genuinely believe meditation is so necessary this days, where all the distraction from social media, phone, and your nasty uncle are coming at you constantly.
The truth is, meditation will not click overnight. It is a very difficult skill to master, and it will take time for you to really reap the benefit of meditation. But once you are able to do meditation properly and gain the benefit, you will instantly be 99% better than the rest.
Simply because the rest are not doing this type of activity.
“You know what they say: wondering mind is a unhappy mind”
7. Make friends with those who see the stars, not only the sky
This is gonna be harsh.
But hear me out.
In my early 20s, there were different type of friends ( that you call friends)
Some will just chugging vodka living the gangsta life paradise.
Some believing so adamantly about the evil of government, big tech, and big money — so much so they don’t want to work because they see money is the root of evil.
And some will just focus on improving themselves.
My mistake, which I wish I had done differently is to be part of the former group.
I was the person who kept making fun of those guys who is always on their balls creating small business, boring hobby like writing or volunteering, and any wishy-washy entreprenerial projects you could think of.
Now, I realize that those who always reinvent themselves, keep improving themselves, and chasing the better person of themselves-are the kind of people that I want to be a part of.
I didn’t want to be those people having fun, wasting their time, and chasing short term happiness to compromise for the long terms.
Well, better late than never.
Now we can be the community of those people as well. That partly the reason I start writing on Medium.
Because I want to learn, and inspire you to achieve greatness in your life. At the same time, I also want to become the person that my current self would want to be friend with.
Thank you for reading :)
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