As we go through life, we encounter various experiences that shape us into the person we are today.
Some of these experiences come with valuable lessons that we could have learned earlier.
Unfortunately, we can’t turn back time, but we can always share these lessons with others in the hopes that they can avoid making the same mistakes.
Here are 31 things I wish someone told me when I was young:
1. Commit yourself to make lots of little mistakes when you’re young
Mistakes teach you important lessons.
The biggest mistake you can make is doing absolutely nothing because you’re too scared to make a mistake.
So don’t indefinitely hesitate — don’t doubt yourself. In life, it’s rarely about getting a chance; it’s about taking a chance.
You’ll never be 100% sure it will work, but you can always be 100% sure doing nothing won’t work.
Most of the time you just have to go for it! And no matter how it turns out, it always ends up just the way it should be.
Either you succeed or you learn something.
Win-Win.
Remember, if you never act, you will never know for sure, and you will be left standing in the same spot forever.
2. Find hard work you appreciate doing
If I could offer my 18-year-old self some real career advice, I’d tell myself not to base my career choice solely on other people’s ideas, goals, and recommendations.
I’d tell myself not to pick a major because it’s popular, or statistically creates graduates who make the most money.
I’d tell myself that the right career choice is based on one key point: Finding hard work you appreciate doing.
As long as you remain true to yourself, and follow your own interests and values, you can find success through passion and inner alignment.
Perhaps more importantly, you won’t wake up several years later working in a career field you despise, wondering “How the heck am I going to do this for the next 30 years?”
So if you catch yourself working hard and loving every minute of it (or at least appreciating it), don’t stop.
You’re on to something big!
3. Invest a little time, energy, and money in yourself every day
When you invest in yourself, you can never lose, and over time you will change the trajectory of your life.
You are simply the product of what you know.
The more time, energy, and money you spend acquiring pertinent knowledge and experience, the more control you have over your life.
4. Explore new ideas and opportunities often
Your natural human fears of failure and embarrassment will sometimes stop you from trying new things.
But you must rise above these fears, for your life’s story is simply the culmination of many small, unique experiences.
And the more unique experiences you have, the more interesting your story gets.
So seek as many new life experiences as possible and be sure to share them with the people you care about.
Not doing so is not living.
Our education system doesn’t teach us to explore, but we always have hidden inquisitiveness within us.
It’s important to keep the fire of exploration alive.
Explore everything that intrigues you.
Find your boundaries and break them.
Walk an extra mile and you’ll get to know how beautiful this universe is, and you’ll discover a new you!
5. When sharpening your career skills, focus more on less
Think in terms of Karate: A black belt seems far more impressive than a brown belt.
But does a brown belt really seem any more impressive than a red belt?
Probably not to most people.
Remember that society elevates experts high onto a pedestal.
Hard work matters, but not if it’s scattered in a hundred different directions.
So narrow your focus on learning fewer career-related skills, and then truly master them.
6. People are not mind readers; you have to tell them what you’re thinking
People will never know how you feel unless you tell them.
Your boss?
Yeah, he doesn’t know you’re hoping for a promotion because you haven’t told him yet.
That cute guy or girl you haven’t talked to yet because you’re too shy?
Yeah, you guessed it; she hasn’t given you the time of day simply because you haven’t given her the time of day either.
In life, you have to communicate with others.
And oftentimes you have to open your vocal cords and speak the first words.
You have to tell people what you’re thinking if you’re looking for a response.
7. Make swift decisions and take immediate action
Either you’re going to take action and seize new opportunities, or someone else will first.
You can’t change anything or make any sort of progress by sitting back and thinking about it.
Remember, there’s a huge difference between knowing how to do something and actually doing it.
Knowledge is basically useless without action.
8. Accept and embrace change
However good or bad a situation is now, it will change.
That’s the one thing you can count on.
So embrace change, and realize that change happens for a reason.
It won’t always be easy or obvious at first, but in the end, it will be worth it.
9. Don’t worry too much about what other people think about you
For the most part, what other people think and say about you doesn’t matter.
When I was 18, I let the opinions of my high school and early college peers influence my decisions.
And, at times, they steered me away from ideas and goals I strongly believed in.
I realize now, ten years later, that this was a foolish way to live, especially when I consider that nearly all of these people whose opinions I cared so much about are no longer a part of my life.
Unless you’re trying to make a great first impression (job interview, first date, etc.), don’t let the opinions of others stand in your way.
What they think and say about you isn’t important.
What is important is how you feel about yourself.
10. Always be honest with yourself and others
Living a life of honesty creates peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless.
Period.
11. Talk to lots of people at university and early on in your career
Bosses.
Colleagues.
Professors.
Classmates.
Social club members.
Other students outside of your major or social circle.
Teaching assistants.
Career advisors.
College deans.
Friends of friends.
Everyone! Why?
Professional networking.
I have worked for three employers since I graduated from college (I left my first two employers by choice on good terms), but I only interviewed with the first employer.
The other two employers offered me a job before I even had a formal interview, based strictly on the recommendation of a hiring manager (someone I had networked with over the years).
When employers look to fill a position, the first thing they do is ask the people they know and trust if they know someone who would do well in the position.
If you start building your professional network early, you’ll be set.
Over time, you’ll continue talking to new people you meet through your current network, and your network’s reach and the associated opportunities will continue to snowball for the duration of your career.
12. Sit alone in silence for at least ten minutes every day
Use this time to think, plan, reflect, and dream.
Creative and productive thinking flourishes in solitude and silence.
With quiet, you can hear your thoughts, you can reach deep within yourself, and you can focus on mapping out the next logical, productive step in your life.
13. Ask lots of questions
The greatest ‘adventure’ is the ability to inquire, to ask questions.
Sometimes in the process of inquiry, the search is more significant than the answers.
Answers come from other people, from the universe of knowledge and history, and from the intuition and deep wisdom inside yourself.
These answers will never surface if you never ask the right questions.
Thus, the simple act of asking the right questions is the answer.
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14. Exploit the resources you do have access to
The average person is usually astonished when they see a physical handicap person show intense signs of emotional happiness.
How could someone in such a restricted physical state be so happy?
The answer rests in how they use the resources they do have.
Stevie Wonder couldn’t see, so he exploited his sense of hearing into a passion for music, and he now has 25 Grammy Awards to prove it.
15. Live below your means
Live a comfortable life, not a wasteful one.
Do not spend to impress others.
Do not live life trying to fool yourself into thinking wealth is measured in material objects.
Manage your money wisely so your money does not manage you.
Always live well below your means.
16. Be respectful of others and make them feel good
In life and business, it’s not so much what you say that counts, it's how you make people feel.
So respect your elders, minors, and everyone in between.
There are no boundaries or classes that define a group of people that deserve to be respected.
Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother.
Supporting, guiding, and making contributions to other people is one of life’s greatest rewards.
In order to get, you have to give.
17. Excel at what you do
There’s no point in doing something if you aren’t going to do it right.
Excel at your work and excel at your hobbies.
Develop a reputation for yourself, a reputation for consistent excellence.
18. Be who you were born to be
You must follow your heart, and be who you were born to be.
Some of us were born to be musicians – to communicate intricate thoughts and rousing feelings with the strings of a guitar.
Some of us were born to be poets – to touch people’s hearts with exquisite prose.
Some of us were born to be entrepreneurs – to create growth and opportunity where others saw rubbish.
And still, some of us were born to be or do whatever it is, specifically, that moves us.
Regardless of what you decide to do in your lifetime, you better feel it in every fibre of your being.
You better be born to do it!
Don’t waste your life fulfilling someone else’s dreams and desires.
19. School isn’t everything and textbooks don’t teach us enough
There’s so much more to the world beyond the four walls of the classroom; so much more to life as well.
Textbooks don’t teach us the most valuable lessons.
The marks we score wouldn’t make much sense after a while, and once we move ahead in life, it’s our values & experiences that matter.
20. Your friends in school aren’t necessarily going to be your friends for life
We tend to make promises to be friends forever, but with time, people drift apart – and that’s absolutely fine!
The ones who are worth will stick around and the others are just meant to be in your life for a certain time.
You’d meet amazing people ahead, from different walks of life, and knit beautiful memories with them.
21. A lot of people will walk in and out of your life - learn to say "Goodbye"
It’s gonna be hard & painful, but you’ll heal.
Make sure to have good times as long as they stay, and when they choose to go, end it on happy notes.
Don’t hold onto bitter feelings for anyone.
‘Letting go’ is an important lesson of life that I wish we were taught much earlier in life.
22. Your parents won’t be there forever, but you’ll be okay without them
Aging is an inevitable process – it’s driven by the laws of nature.
Our parents, being double our age (mostly), wouldn’t necessarily live as long as we do.
No matter how difficult life might get without them, you’re going to survive.
The loss of parents can’t be compensated, but you’d still grow and make a wonderful life, knowing that they are always blessing you.
23. You don’t need to figure out everything in life
When we graduate from high school, we feel a strange pressure – to figure out what to do next – which course to pursue in college, what profession to choose, and so on and so forth!
But that’s not necessary.
You can take things easy and follow your heart.
Opt for a subject that you wish to study, without thinking about what career options it’ll fetch!
It’s okay to not know what you want to do in life – you’ll eventually figure it out.
24. Change is the only constant
However good or bad a situation is now, it will change.
That’s the one thing you can focus on – impermanence.
So be open and learn to embrace change; realize that change happens for a reason.
It won’t always be easy to accept at first, but in the end, it’ll be worth it.
25. Don’t worry too much about what others think about you
When we give over our power to others and allow their impressions to become how we perceived them, we lose out on who we really are.
We tend to think a lot about how others will judge us – but trust me, it doesn’t matter.
You should follow your heart, always, and not be scared of what society will say.
You are the master of your life.
26. Doing what you love will bring you happiness
When I passed out of school, none told me that I should follow my dreams rather than opt for something that seemed like a stable career option.
It took me years to realize that I love to write and words make me free.
That’s when I knew that doing what I love would not just be a thought career to choose, but it would also fetch me happiness and contentment.
Nonetheless, it’s never too late to do what we love.
27. Count your blessings
While growing up, life seems very easy and we tend to take things for granted.
Parents are there to support, teachers are there to guide, and friends are there to fall back on.
But as the years pass by, the number of people protecting us would decrease and we might not always be lucky enough to experience goodness.
Tough times would be there, people might take advantage of you, and you’d fail – but that shouldn’t stop you from rising again.
Be grateful for whatever life blesses you with, and know that everything has a meaning.
28. Live in the moment
We always keep postponing things, never realizing the uncertainties of the future.
If you love someone, tell them.
Colour your hair.
Get that tattoo.
Go for that solo trip you’ve been dreaming of - hitchhike; try yoga on the beaches.
Read a motivational autobiography.
Listen to pop music.
Life is what is happening now, and this time will never be back.
29. You are your first priority - always make time for yourself
We often keep ourselves too busy with everything else, that we forget to care for ourselves.
Off late, I made it a point to take at least 15 minutes out each day, to sit and meditate or just be blank, while watering my plants or cooking my dinner.
Well, it did wonders!
It’s very important to take time out for oneself and listen to good music, eat good food, read a good book, and watch a good movie.
It’s only when we care for ourselves, can we care for others too.
30. It is important to grieve
While growing up, we are often told that crying makes us weak and vulnerable.
However, it doesn’t.
In fact, it’s the other way around – crying is a way to let out sorrow and makes us feel lighter.
It is important for us to grieve.
I realized it much later in life when I lost my mother and couldn’t express the pain through tears.
31. Be yourself
We are all unique in our own ways.
We all have something special in us.
It’s important to be yourself.
It’s easy to be a carbon copy of someone else and it’s really hard to show your true self around others sometimes, but in the end, it’s worth it.
Nurture your well-being.
It’ll help you to grow beautifully.
