21 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 21
What would you tell yourself if you could go back in time and meet your younger self?
What advice would you give yourself to make your future easier?
Here are some of the things I tell the younger me.
1. Learn from your mistakes.
Accept that you’ll make lots of mistakes along the way.
They are inevitable but always remember to learn from your mistakes—and keep growing.
2 Learn to love change.
The one thing you can count on is change.
It will happen, and you can’t avoid it. It won’t always be easy, but change happens for a reason.
Learn to be OK with it.
3. Learn to say NO more often
You don’t always have to say yes when people ask you for something, or people ask you to do something.
And you definitely don’t have to say yes to all those so-called great opportunities that come your way.
I’ve made more money by saying no to things than by saying yes to perceived opportunities
4. Focus and become good at one thing
Successful people specialise, so don’t try to be a jack-of-all-trades.
Focus on being really good at just a few things. Hard work is wasted when it’s scattered in too many directions.
5. Tell people how you feel.
Never underestimate the power of a simple compliment.
Make the people around you feel good.
People seem to have a way of remembering the people who made them feel special.
If someone hurts your feelings, be honest with them.
Don’t be scared to apologise.
Don’t be scared to tell people including your parents that you love them.
Life’s too short not to say it—and you may never really know when you’ll have the opportunity to say how you feel again.
6. Don’t worry so much
Most of what you worry about will never happen.
Most worry is wasted.
And, in particular, stop worrying so much about what other people think.
Letting the opinions of others influence your decisions is one of the worst things you can do.
The only thing that is important is what you think and feel about yourself.
7. Be honest with yourself and others.
Always be true to yourself and others.
Honesty gives you peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless.
And of course, relationships built on the foundation of lies won’t last.
8. Learn to ask great questions.
Stay curious and ask great questions.
Listen more than you talk and keep asking.
Some people have incredible stories and lessons to give to you.
You just have to be willing to ask.
9. Invest in yourself.
Never stop learning.
While formal school ends at some point, life is a journey, and if you’re not growing, you’re dying.
Continual personal development is the key to success.
Of course, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel – there will be lots of people around you who are older and wiser than you.
Make sure you learn from them.
Ask them questions, study how they work, try and find out what they’ve learned from their mistakes.
Find someone you want to be like 20 years from now and make them your mentor.
Don’t be shy about doing this as we all need to learn from someone and the best in the business realise this.
10. Be grateful.
You’ll never be wealthy unless you’re grateful for what you have, no matter how much money you have.
11. Love yourself.
You can’t possibly live a fulfilled life until you learn to love yourself.
You’re unique and no one is quite like you. Embrace it. Love it.
Other people will only love you more for it.
12. Don’t compare your chapter 1 with someone else’s chapter 20
Stop comparing yourself to others.
You don’t really know what’s going on in their life. Everyone has their own problems and issues
Instead, concentrate on being better today than you were yesterday.
If you keep doing that, you’ll be successful.
It may not happen right away, but if you stay focused on improving just a little every day, you’ll amaze yourself.
13. Help others become successful
When you reach the top send the elevator back down.
Once you find yourself in a position to help bring others up to where you are, send the elevator back down.
Help others get to where you are. Mentor, give back, contribute.
14. Enjoy the journey.
If you don’t enjoy the journey you won’t enjoy the destination.
15. Make no excuses – just find a way.
The truth is: no one knows really what they are doing. It just looks like they know.
16. Be prepared to take risks.
We are constantly taught as children to avoid risk-taking.
But very rarely are we told by authority figures to simply “go for it”.
Now, I am not talking about reckless risks, but I suggesting not letting your fear stop you from taking calculated ones.
Many people would like to avoid risk at all costs, but you’ll never grow unless you stretch your comfort zone so learn to become comfortable being uncomfortable.
Go after what you want.
Quit your job.
Start a business.
Walk up to the beautiful girl eating lunch alone and say hi.
You won’t always succeed, but you won’t always fail, either.
17. Choose your friends carefully
Many of us don’t actively choose the people we spend time with, they just sort of become our friends.
Often these are old friends from childhood who we may or may not have anything in common with anymore, but we see regularly nevertheless out of habit.
But we should be careful about who we surround ourselves with because their approach to life and their ambitions (or lack thereof) rub off on us.
We are far more likely to chase our goals if we are surrounded by like-minded friends who are successful and motivated.
18. Don’t expect anything.
No one owes you anything.
If you want something, work for it.
You are the only one responsible for your life.
19. Think long-term.
Thinking a year in advance is not a long term thinking, think 10-20 years in advance.
Great things take time.
Be patient because wealth is the transfer of money form the impatient to the patient
20. Apply the 20/80 rule.
It may look like the people who work the hardest get what they want.
Unfortunately, that’s not true.
You can work little, be smart about it and get what you want.
Learn what works and do more of it.
Ignore the rest.
21. Make investing a priority
Master money consciousness.
Invest your time in learning about how money works.
How money is made, how money acts, how to manage and grow money.
Learn the difference between assets and liabilities.
Start building up your assets.
Money is not the answer but focusing on making money will make your life easier.
And, trust me, when you get to my age, the above rules will no longer seem like rules.
They will be a godsend.
Life is short but incredible.
Wake up and enjoy the ride.
