What I Learned In My 20’s: Life Lessons That Will Give You A Future Success.
How to create a future you desire.
We all go through life and make decisions based on the situation we found ourselves or the events around us. As a life coach, I get the opportunity to talk to people and share words of wisdom to help them with important decisions.
So I was thinking, what if I could offer words of advice for my 20-year old self? I’m in my 40s now, I’ve had lots of experience, and I’m a lot wiser than I was at age 20, so I believe I am qualified to advise a 20-something-year-old person. If you are in that age, here are some things I wish I knew in my 20s; hopefully, you would find them useful.
I am sharing — 5 things I would tell my 20-year-old self.
1. Build valuable relationships.
I was blessed to have great people around me, and the friends that I had in my 20s are still the best ones, in my opinion. Pick your friends and make sure that they add value to you, and you should also be of value to them. If you are the smartest in your group, the group is too small for you.
Find and associate with people that are smarter than you — academically, spiritually, or in life experience. Relationship matters. Having a circle of friends around you who believe you, support you, encourage you, tell you the truth is important. I like how Jim Rohn put it, “You are the average of 5 people you move with”.
Ensure you have a healthy and strong network of people around you, and connect with them regularly.
2. Invest in yourself
You may not believe this, but you can and should start investing in yourself in your 20s. This is a formation stage for whom you will become as an adult.
Learn new things, pick up new skills, read books, attend training and seminars that will benefit you. Learn how to be a leader, volunteer to lead groups, learn how to develop your communication skills, and public speaking.
Learn how to manage money, start thinking about how to create income streams for yourself. Learn to build confidence in yourself, learn to trust in your instinct.
Cultivate good work ethics, learn how to honor your words, learn punctuality, learn how to work in teams.
3. Raise your voice
Technology has made it possible and easier for every one voices to be heard. If you see something wrong around you, raise your voice to correct it. If you witness injustice, don’t stay silent; raise your voice.
Be active in politics, organize and campaign for a candidate of your choice. Get into politics. Get in to “good troubles,” in the words of the great John Lewis. Don’t be afraid to speak out, be authentic, and always do your best in all your endeavor. Don’t ever go for half measure. I like how MLK framed it:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
4. Cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset
I know that our path in life will never be the same. If you are in your 20s today, I will strongly advise you to start cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset. I don’t know what course or profession you are planning to take on, but I can tell you that the future of career has nothing like “Job security.”
Your generation has fully embraced the gig economy. You are using the technology, which makes life a lot better, but also disrupt career. Check this out; Mark Zuckerberg was only 19 years when he started Facebook. Don’t wait for that future before you start thinking like an entrepreneur.
This world is full of problems. Find one that you are passionate about, and work on providing solutions. Don’t just stay on Snapchat, Instagram all day long and watch other people’s content. Be a creator. Create your content for the world to see, hear, or read (Podcast, Blog, Youtube). Do it, as if your whole life depends on it.
5. Be Adventurous
One thing my Octogenarian Dad always tells me is to find ways to enjoy myself. My version of that is to say to people to live life to the fullest. I don’t want people to look back in regrets and say, I wish I had done that. I don’t shoulda, coulda.
So, do something that excites you. Take on adventures. Laugh often. In fact, laugh out loud. Don’t be afraid to follow your instincts; give yourself the freedom to try as many new things as possible. Take on sky diving, play new sports, do something you are passionate about, and make you proud. Yes, make mistakes, but learn from them.
Being in your 20’s is an exciting time! You have your entire life ahead of you. I want you to have fun so that you won’t look back and feel like you could have done more.
Key Takeaways:
- Build valuable relationships
- Invest in yourself
- Raise your voice
- Cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset
- Be adventurous
