15 tips for 20-year-olds from someone in their thirties

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

How to spend a period of up to 30 years with benefit, develop harmoniously and achieve everything that makes life happy.

An article about advice to thirty-year-olds from those over forty has become so popular that I involuntarily had a desire to write exactly the same, but for those who are now 20 years old.

I remember myself at the age of 20. This was the fourth year at the institute. I just went to work at the bank with a salary of $ 60. I would not have thought to look for a job at the institute, but my girlfriend at that time, and now my wife, said that it was time to start looking for work. And she, of course, was right.

But just a few months before that, my life looked like this …

I woke up early in the morning in the dorm with an alarm clock with my girlfriend. She was going to couples at the institute, and I made her morning tea. I needed a second pair, so I took my time. Then my friend Vlad came from home. Since the time was early and we didn't want to go to couples at all, we turned on the Enigma album and slept safely until the third or even the fourth couple. Then they woke up and went to the institute, which was only 200 meters from the hostel.

At the institute in the fourth year, we played the fool. Nobody did their homework. In pairs, we sat on our phones.

The main hobby was watching movies in the evening with friends in the hostel or constant races in Need for speed. We also played Far Cry, Mafia, GTA and a bunch of other games.

Writing theses, abstracts and printing cheat sheets gave good pocket money.

Life seemed carefree and fun.

Then there was the fifth year, a few more of my classmates went to work, and the rest just continued to have fun.

But now 10 years have passed. I went to social networks and looked through the pages of my friends. I realized that our life has changed a lot. With some we have nothing more to talk about, and only 10% have managed to achieve something in life.

What happened to me in 10 years?

• Starting a career in a bank; moving to another bank, where they paid more; offer for an increase in just a week of work; a proposal to move from Kharkov to Kiev after six months of work, moving to Kiev; another increase in a year, then another in six months and another in a year; unexpected reduction.
• HR Director at 24.
• Buying an apartment on a dollar loan, difficult 2008, difficult 2014. Each time the dollar rate grew 1.5 times.
• Buying a car on credit, repaying a loan, buying a car for his wife.
• Birth of a child.
• The first trip to Turkey for the first bonus, then a trip to Egypt for a birthday, then, after a long pause, a trip to Tunisia.
• About 100 books I read and daily work on myself to eliminate all my psychological limitations, self-doubt.
• The development of personal qualities in oneself - communication, persuasion, public speaking, time management.
• Professional growth. Although I was asked to write the first article for Computer Review magazine in 2006, it took eight years to learn how to write really interesting, so that other publications wanted to republish articles, and they began to invite me as a speaker to all key HR conferences.
• Entering the TOP-20 of the best HR directors in Ukraine at the age of 30.

What advice do I want to give to those who are now 20 years old?

To make their life truly successful, because in 10 years you can achieve truly high results.

1. Choose a career in which you want to be realized

I am sure that 9 out of 10 of your friends do not know what kind of career they will build. They think they will do it sometime in the future, but they never will. As a result, they will find work in which they will be unhappy, incompetent and earn little money.

Why do I insist that you should start building a career now? Because you are laying the foundation. Either your career will develop in the same way as the career of 94% of all people, and by retirement, at best, you will earn 2,000-3,000 dollars, or you will build a brilliant career with an income of up to $ 50,000 per month (average income of the CEO large company).

Here is a graph that shows how much dollars you can earn per month with career control (top graph) and no career control (bottom):

This means that in your life you will earn 10 times more, or $ 12,000,000 more. Even if you spend half of the extra money earned on a comfortable life, then for 6,000,000 dollars you can buy yourself a cool house, a cool car, provide a decent old age for your parents, teach children and take care of your health and financial well-being in old age.

That is why I am not talking about saving money. You need to build a career, and the money will come by itself.

And here is how much dollars you will earn over 45 years of your career without control (left column) and with control (right):

How to choose a dream job?

Consider the following four career areas:

• What do you love to do the most?
• What do you do better than others?
• What profession is your knowledge in demand?
• What professions have a good income?

For a list of what you love to do, fill out the table:

Question	Answer
Your hobbies
Childhood hobbies
School activities
Your college successes
What did you make money with?
What your friends asked you to do in exchange for something
Your option …

You can fill in the list of your skills and talents in this table:

Question	Answer
Listen to what others are saying about you and what your talents are. What they say about you often, and you didn't even pay attention
What do you do easily, on which others work for a long time?
What do you love the most? What would you spend your free time on?
What do you like to talk about a lot? More than your friends are willing to listen to? Maybe the subject of the conversation is your talent, or is it somehow related to talent?
Ask other people who will tell the truth what is your talent?
Remember when you lost the sense of time, forgot to eat and sleep, what did you do? What qualities did you use?
What subjects at the university did you study more than was enough?

You can make a list of professions that are well paid, and a list of professions that use your knowledge.

Now fill in the table, for this, write down all the positions that you have chosen in the "Business" line, and in the following columns write down the numbers from 1 to 10, where 10 means that the chosen position corresponds to the column heading as much as possible.

Then compare the scores in the "TOTAL" column and choose the position that scored the maximum number of points. In it and build a career.

A business	Case 1	Case 2	Case 3	A business …
I like it
It uses my talents
It uses my education
I can make good money on it
TOTAL

2. Do not chase wages, but constantly strive to increase them

When choosing a job, never be guided by the salary offered. Look further - what career prospects are there in this company, how much the company pays in comparison with the market.

For you, the potential of the company should now be much more important than momentary wages.

It is much more important for you to gain knowledge, experience and a good leader than quick income. Give preference to large companies with more than 2,000 employees, preferably with foreign capital.

This company must have a very good reputation, and its top manager must be included in the list of TOP-100 most successful managers.

At your age you can afford to find such a company.

But as soon as you have found a job - apply all my advice from the article "7 Simple Ways to Get a Wage Increase."

3. Create a detailed vision of yourself at 30 and follow it

This is the most amazing piece of advice. Sometime in my 16 years, I read the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. I lived in Kharkov and studied at the Lyceum. There, one of the exercises was to write a vision of yourself 20 years later. Then I wrote that I wanted to live in Kiev, have my own apartment, car, director's position and family. I could not even imagine then that all this would come true in just 14 years.

So let's now write your vision in 10 years.

To do this, in each line, describe how you imagine your life in each of the areas in 10 years. There must be specific measurable things.

Sphere of life	Description of the future in 10 years
Career, work
Health, physical condition
Relationship, family, love
Welfare level, financial situation
Self-realization, hobby
Personal development

Review your vision every year and make changes.

4. Spend a lot of money and time on your studies

At the age of 20, it seems that studying at trainings, attending conferences, reading professional books is expensive. But if you do not develop yourself, then you will pay a much higher price for your ignorance. Therefore, here is your plan for the next 10 years:

• 1 professional (best) conference per year.
• 1 training on the development of personal qualities per year (negotiations, public speaking, time management).
• 2 specialized low-cost events per year.

• 1 book per month on a professional or business topic, I highly recommend reading:

  ♦ Tony Shay "Delivering happiness";

  ♦ Sam Walton "Made in America";

  ♦ Lee Iacocca “Manager's Career”;

  ♦ Walter Isaacson "Steve Jobs";

  ♦ Howard Schultz "Pour Your Heart Into It";

  ♦ Richard Branson "Losing Innocence";

  ♦ Max Kotin “And nerds are doing business”, “Chichvarkin E… a genius. If out of 100 times you are sent 99 ;

  ♦ Stephen Covey "7 Habits of Highly Effective People";

  ♦ George Clayson “The Richest Man in Babylon”;

  ♦ Jack Canfield "Chicken Soup for the Soul".

• 1 fiction or motivational book every two months, if you haven't read it yet, be sure to read:

  ♦ Jack London "Martin Eden", "Time Doesn't Wait";

  ♦ Theodore Dreiser "Financier", "Titan", "Stoic";

  ♦ Erich Maria Remarque "Three Comrades";

  ♦ Benvenuto Cellini "Notes of Benvenuto Cellini, Florentine goldsmith and sculptor";

  ♦ Philip Stanhope Chesterfield Letters to Son.

• 1 audiobook or audio course per quarter.
• 1 profile magazine every six months.
• Once every 2 weeks, go to different evening meetings, meetings on professional and business topics. Participation usually costs from 10 to 30 dollars.

5. Go in for sports, only it will help to overcome the most difficult trials

I started playing sports in the third grade. I went to track and field, then I quit. In eighth grade, I went to the gym for the first time. I walked five days a week for 1, 5 hours and even achieved good strength results, although I did not gain mass due to the fact that I was spending a lot of calories, but ate as usual. Then I went to ninth grade for about six months and also dropped out for the same reason - there was no visible result. There were also attempts to study at home on the horizontal bar and at the institute.

After college, I did not go in for sports. In 10 years I have gained 16 kilograms of weight, mostly fat. Then I went to the gym, but this time I read a lot of articles and tips and changed my diet. I finally gained the desired mass and visually became larger.

But this is nonsense compared to my discovery: I have become much more enduring, more self-confident, more persistent, more creative and more able to work. I can safely say that the gym provided me with a serious leap forward in life. It was thanks to him that I rather calmly endured the crisis in 2014, while in 2008 it was very difficult for me. And the point is not that this is the second crisis in my life, but the audience really helped me.

6. Find a wife / husband, then your standards will be too high

This needs to be done for a number of reasons. Indeed, the older we get, the more pragmatic we are. We are no longer ready to put up with the shortcomings and know our own worth. A guy, like a girl, after 25 is hard to find a partner and get married.

Meanwhile, the family is a very strong incentive for the development and living of a more conscious life.

7. Travel while there are no children

Of course, there are exceptions, but a typical family is not very comfortable traveling with a small child. But there are so many interesting countries where you can go while you are young and you have no children, or you will go there when your children become adults - Vietnam, India …

In addition, travel is a powerful way to develop your horizons. When you see a fundamentally different life, you start to think differently. Don't visit the same countries. Change geography often. Don't think that travel is expensive. Sometimes it is even cheaper than a trip to Crimea.

8. Make yourself happy with gifts

While you are young, you will be delighted with a brand new iPhone, fitness bracelet, another Macbook model, the latest Adidas sneakers and much more. It is foolish to deny yourself all this, because then it will no longer be interesting to you. Do not save - think about how to make money on it.

But never buy equipment or a telephone on credit. Never buy it for your salary - only with the extra money you earn. How do you earn them? Read my article on seven ways to improve your salary.

9. Take an apartment on credit

Yes, I am against loans. I think mortgages are evil. But you have no other way to find your home by the age of 30, except on a loan. Sometimes a loan is more profitable than renting a home. But keep in mind that you must fulfill the following conditions:

• The loan payment should not exceed 35% of the family income (this means that when one of you loses your job, the loan will be 70% of the other's income if you earned the same).
• Set aside a monthly amount equal to the loan payment for a whole year - you will test yourself and collect an advance.
• Take out a loan only in national currency. Savings on interest from a foreign currency loan will always be eaten by the growth of the exchange rate. And the national currency is subject to inflation of about 10% annually, and it works for you.
• Get your mortgage tax credit back. This is 15% of the amount of interest paid. How? Ask the lawyers you know, it's really simple.
• If you can, instead of a bank loan, take an installment plan from the developer: he usually does not take interest on the loan.
• After applying for a loan, collect a deposit in the amount of six monthly loan payments in case of a crisis.
• Can't pay? Go to the bank and demand a temporary simplification of the loan payment terms - do not go into debt with your relatives or in another bank.

10. Buy a car

You will save a lot of time if you have a car. Your car can become a place where you listen to audiobooks. I bought a car at 23. In it, I listened to about 50 audiobooks and trainings. Sometimes my audiobooks were the only salvation during the tough turns of my career.

Now the car is not that expensive. A good, solid Smart can already be found for $ 4,500. It will be enough for you for five years. It is economical and requires no capital investment. And you can collect for it already with a salary of 1,000 dollars a month.

11. Make new acquaintances and friends

At 30, you realize that your best friends are those you met before 25. Then making friends is much harder.

But you can not make friends, but interesting acquaintances. Over time, you begin to understand how cool it is when you have unusual and interesting people in your friends. With their help, you will be able to solve your problems, develop, find new ways to solve problems.

How to find such people? Just pay attention to those who have done better in their careers than others. Let me give you a small example of interesting people that I have met over the past month:

• An artist who draws sketches during a speaker's speech at a conference. He also draws animated sales videos.
• Chairman of condominiums (association of owners of an apartment building).
• Energy Efficiency Manager.
• Director of a recruiting agency.
• Head of a youth organization.
• Director of the language school.

Imagine how many different useful tips and advice I can get from these people. In turn, I can be very useful to them.

12. Give birth to a child at 26 years old

Earlier it is too early for a career, later it will be difficult. I think this is the optimal age.

And it's not that hard:

• State aid is really good.
• Maternity and sick leave amounts to approximately five salaries.
• Finding an adequate nanny in our time is already possible.
• Babysitting is cheaper than the salary of a person who is building a career.
• All other expenses for the child: food, toys, clothes - harmoniously fall into the family budget and find their place there.

13. Maintain a list of your accomplishments

First, the very fact of having achievements in life increases a person's level of happiness.

Martin Seligman, American psychologist and founder of positive psychology, identified five components of happiness:

• Positive emotions (about them below).
• Engagement is when you build your favorite career and use your talents.
• Relationships - there was advice # 11 about them.
• Understanding the meaning of life (next tip).
• Achievements - having success in life.

Keep a diary of achievements, and you yourself will be surprised how positively it affects you.

14. Pay attention to your philosophy

Usually between the ages of 20 and 30, people begin to think about their purpose and the meaning of life. Everyone goes their own unique way, and it will not work to give universal advice here. But usually it happens like this: you begin to be interested in issues of psychology, philosophy, religion, and some topics, or trends, or teachings attract your attention.

Therefore, I recommend listening to your intuition and studying those topics that interest you.

15. Look for positive emotions

I would like to end on the positive, so this advice is in last place, but it is not the last in importance.

Positive emotions are generally the meaning of our life. But, oddly enough, they can be controlled.

I recommend that you make a list:

What makes me more positive	What brings me negativity

Fill in the table. Look for more encounters with the first column and avoid the second.

Here you can include people, material things, places you visit, activities you do, and so on.

I can say that I was lucky to find these tips for myself and follow them between my 20s and 30s.

The main thing that I remember is that if you really want something very much and constantly move towards it, despite all the failures, you will achieve it. Now my credo is the phrase:

If you want to be successful at something, devote 10,000 hours to it.

I have a new goal: I want to be a CEO by 35, and I devote my time to this issue. This article is my 3 hours out of 10,000 hours because I believe that the ability to develop other people is one of the main distinguishing features of a CEO.

Good luck for the next 10 years!