13 Tough Choices You NEED To Make In Your 20s
Sooooo yeah… I just turned 26 last week and have officially entered the ‘late-20s’ category. (Casually insert “I’M SO OLD”)
After my mini existential crisis and going through old photos of myself reminiscing life before I hit puberty at 21 — I’ve been thinking about something very serious. As I inch towards (dare I say it) 30 years old, I’m obsessed with this question:
What choices should I make before 30 to ensure I have the best 30s and onwards?
Most people older than me say your 20s are the most important years of your life.
And I can see why — you literally prepare a blueprint and build the foundation of your entire life in this single decade.
What’s more, due to the ever-increasing complexities of the modern world, things are becoming more difficult than ever for people in their 20s. Social media, technology, COVID pandemic, mental health crisis, RIP Harambe, should I go on? I guess that happens when a civilization progresses at an exponential rate.
Anyways, to build a great future or at least a great plan it seems one thing is true — you need to make tough choices in your 20s.
You won’t want to make them, but you have to.
I don’t want to sound the ‘gloom and doom alarm’, but when people waste their 20s, they often have to struggle a lot more in their 30s. (Of course, this is not a scientific fact, so it doesn’t apply to everyone.) But it is a great rule of thumb to make as much of your 20s as possible.
So, being the person I am, I went down a MASSIVE rabbit hole and collected all the advice I could find online and in-person from people in their late 30s centered around one question:
“What choices did you wish you made in your 20s that would’ve impacted your life today?”
I’ve compiled the 13 most popular answers and laid them out in this week’s blog post. I know, I know, please settle down; no need to send me a Thank You note and your first-born child (however if you did buy my book I’d be eternally grateful ☺️ )
So without further ado — let’s look at the 13 most important tough choices you NEED to make in your 20s to avoid any regrets in your 30s!
1) Choose A Career That You Enjoy
This is one of the most important things you will do in your 20s. When you graduate from college, you will need to figure out what you want to do with your life.
You could choose to go for a job or build a business of your own. No matter what you do, you need to consider your short-term and long-term goals.
After all, your career will define you as an individual and help you fulfill your other dreams.
One good piece of advice I can give you here is don’t worry about finding your ‘passion’. Our generation is obsessed that if you do what you love, your work won’t feel like “work” to you.
However, instead of setting out to discover your passion, set out to develop it.
That means try the buffet of life, see what careers and skills come naturally to you and which don’t.
And ultimately, the difference between “discover” and “develop” is you work towards making that job your passion by investing time, energy, and effort into getting good at it.
If you look around, most people do what they do because they have to, not because they want to.
In such a world, if you can figure out how to make a career out of something you enjoy, you will be much better off than most people.
Also, your likelihood of success will rise dramatically.
2) Cut Down Partying And Alcohol
Understandably, in your 20s, especially the early years, you would want to let loose and enjoy life to the fullest.
After all, hangovers get worse with age so might as well benefit from the fact you’re young enough to pop an Advil and move on with your day.
You probably know your weekends won’t be as free after just a few years. So, you can’t be blamed for wanting the best time of your life. And I think you should totally have as much fun as you can. It’s a phase we all go through!
However, you should reduce the partying and alcohol before you hit 30. That’s because excessive alcohol consumption is bad for your long-term goals if you want to succeed in every area of life.
Not only does it harm your health (obviously) it may motivate you to remember that as you get older your metabolism slows down, so it’ll be tougher to stay in shape.
Furthermore, by not partying as much, you will have more time on your hands to devote to more productive and useful things like starting a side business, saving more money (God knows how expensive it is to get 5 lemon drops at a bar these days lol), investing in yourself care, spending time with family, etc.
Trust me, according to the numerous people I interviewed — this extra time will come in handy later in life.
Pro Tip: If you’re having a tough time with this one, read my most popular article — I Quit Alcohol for 90 Days: 10 Things That Happened.
3) Save Money For The Future
So, when you are young and free, you will probably tend to spend money haphazardly. I do it all the time, when I moved to New York City I lost all my understanding of the value of money.
You might tend to buy things you don’t really want, take on debt, and not have the right ideas about managing your money. Since your 20s also happen to be the time you make big life decisions, you need to sort out your financials.
Otherwise, things can spiral down quite quickly.
The first thing you need to do is save money. Stop spending on things just for the sake of it.
Save it. And invest it into something that will grow with you.
You might underestimate how important this is. But after a few years, you will thank your past self when your savings and investments become significant.
Also, it will instill a sense of discipline in you from a young age, which is very important in life.
One of my favorite budgeting strategies is from Ramit Sethi (author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich); he breaks down to the very last detail how to manage where your money should go:
Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich (source: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-automate-your-finances-2015-6)
4) Let Go of Negative People
This might sound harsh and I must say that it is one of the toughest choices you will make.
But you have to cut off negative people from your life.
No matter how close they are to you.
The price you pay for having negative people in your life is never worth it.
Look, I understand that some of these people might have been around for a long time. Heck, you might have known them since your childhood! But, the fact remains:
Negative people will negatively influence your mind, emotions, and habits.
And as countless people have experienced countless times, these people only hold you back.
They limit your potential and as such, you end up settling for a life you won’t be proud of.
The right thing to do is to let them go. (And you don’t have to be rude about it.)
Start focusing on important things that matter and you will automatically distance yourself from them.
5) Build A Variety of Skills
Ok, this one is a tough choice because it requires a lot of focus and dedication.
Building skills takes a lot of time and practice. You have to devote yourself to the cause and see to it that you build a reservoir of skills that can be useful in different areas of life.
This has become important in today’s world which is increasingly becoming sophisticated.
You just have to be prepared for many different eventualities; having different skills allows you to do that.
Plus, it also helps in your personal development. As an individual, if you are widely capable, it increases your self-esteem and makes you much more marketable than others.
As a result, your career gets a major boost and your future becomes more secure. With changing times, the skills you ought to have, change too. So, you need to keep up with the times and see which skills are worth investing in.
Pro Tip: Don’t know where to start? Read my popular post — Why I Spent $29,402 On Personal Development This Year
6) Don’t Give Up After A Failure
Experience teaches you that failures are just stepping stones to success. Ask any successful person today and they will tell you the same.
Study what great inventors in history have said and you will realize that failure doesn’t mean what you think it means.
It is not a full stop, but a comma.
Failure is, in fact, a vital step in your journey to success. It helps you see things more clearly, helps you grow as a person, and teaches you the value of hard work.
So, when you fail at something, don’t be disheartened. Just get up, and keep moving forward. When you are young, you might be tempted to give up easily so that you can pursue something else.
But a better option would be to try a few more times. Especially if you’re pursuing something that you really love.
Otherwise, you will always wonder what would have happened if you had just pushed a little harder.
You don’t want to live your 30s in regret about a “what if”. Take action now, and bounce back before it’s too late.
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7) Keep Pushing Past Your Comfort Zone
Everybody has a comfort zone.
It’s the zone that contains all the things that you are comfortable doing. And as is obvious, it is also what limits you.
Now, some people have a much smaller comfort zone than others. So, the amount of work required to break it varies from person to person.
But if you happen to be someone who is not comfortable doing most things, well, you need to start hustling. And what better time to do this than in your 20s?
This is when you need to take risks and look for new opportunities. This is when you should try things that might even scare you and try to catapult yourself way ahead of everyone else.
Your young age is your biggest advantage.
After you start getting older, you might not want to take too many risks because many responsibilities fall on your shoulders.
Therefore, you must make the most of your 20s by taking carefully calculated risks.
8) Follow As Many Good Habits As Possible
Your habits are what make you.
One of my favorite quotes is by Aristotle, he once said:
Since habits influence your decisions on the most subtle levels, you could say that they also shape your future.
Think about it.
If you have a lot of good habits such as reading books, eating healthy, remaining hygienic, taking care of your mental health, and so on, you will do all the right things day after day.
All these good decisions will pile up and you will be much better off in the future. Daily micro-wins, when done consistently lead to a tsunami of mastery.
On the other hand, if you have a lot of bad habits, well, it will lead you down a destructive path.
So, it only makes sense to find and adopt as many good habits as possible, no matter how tempting it is to throw yourself at the bad ones.
Also, ensure you don’t get influenced negatively by the people around you. Often, that is the biggest reason people start engaging in bad habits, but we already discussed that earlier.
Pro Tip: Don’t waste your time researching which habits to start with, just read my popular post — 3 Habits That Will Change Your Life
9) Forgive Others And Move On
Your 20s is a period where you will meet a lot of people. And most of these will be temporary.
As such, the chances of someone doing something wrong or hurting you are quite high.
You might get screwed over at work, heartbroken due to a partner, angry at a family member, and so on. When this happens, the natural human tendency is to start holding a grudge against those who have wronged us.
But we all know how heavy these grudges can be.
Therefore, the sensible thing to do is to forgive others and move on with your life. You will feel much lighter and you will be able to focus better on your work.
Trust me, grudges can come in the way of the quality of your life.
Plus, why should you waste time suffering over people who are only meant to have a temporary presence in your life?
10) Treat Your Body Like A Temple
This is a must.
When you are young, you feel like you are invincible. At least health-wise. I’ve literally had Taco Bell 4 days in a row before and still felt amazing on day 5.
That’s because the human body is naturally very strong in this age group and so, it can sustain a lot of damage.
So, when you get hurt, you heal much faster than the older folks. You can go overboard with your eating and drinking, and there probably won’t be too much trouble. However, unbeknownst to you, it has a subtle effect on your health that becomes increasingly prominent with time.
If you are not careful, you might give birth to chronic disorders and diseases in your 20s. And you might have to suffer your whole life due to this.
On the contrary, treating your body like a temple will lay a strong foundation for your whole life.
You will be able to remain physically fit for much longer than other people and diseases will be kept at bay.
Do not underestimate the importance of health in your story of success!
You won’t be making too much money if you’re stuck visiting doctors all the time. Even if you have the greatest idea for a world-changing business, if you don’t have the energy to get out of bed and make it a reality — your idea is useless.
So you know what to do: Eat healthier, exercise more, get better sleep, blah blah blah. We all know what we need to do to live a healthier life, but rarely take steps to do it.
So if you haven’t started already, start today.
11) Cure Your Laziness
You might have heard the older folks say that working hard is important.
You might have wondered whether this is true — or whether working smart is the better option?
And to be honest, that is a trick question. You can’t work just hard, nor can you work just smart. You need BOTH to be successful.
Now that we’ve settled that debate and there is no alternative to working hard, your 20s are the perfect time to lay that groundwork.
Sure, you can be efficient in executing things, but in the end, how much you hustle will determine your future success.
I understand this is difficult for us who are in our 20s. In this first half, we are more inclined to enjoy life and not take things too seriously. And to a certain degree, that’s okay.
However, you need to realize sooner or later that hard work will make a huge difference.
And the earlier you start, the earlier you can start making progress towards your goals and get a head start!
Pro Tip: To jumpstart your cure for laziness forever, check out my popular article — Defeat The 4 Types of Procrastination
12) Slow Down
This might seem contrary to some of the other points on this list. But hear me out.
This is for you if you are the type of person who hustles way too much and never rests. You might think that if you pause for even a second, others will get ahead of you or your dreams will get pushed back.
This is simply not the case.
Kudos to you for being sincere and using all that energy to go after your dreams. But you need to treat yourself as a human being.
And that involves self-care. Sometimes, it is okay to slow down a bit and take some rest.
Your body and mind require replenishing and some downtime to function at their best. And you can use this downtime to get your bearings and have an enhanced perspective on things.
13) Network Strategically
Perhaps the toughest calls you will have to make in your life will be regarding the people you connect to.
After all, we’ve heard the saying, “Your net worth, is your network.”
Right from the get-go, you need to figure out the type of life you want to live. You need to create a vision of the future in your mind.
Then, you need to surround yourself with people that can help you get there. Nobody can become successful all on their own.
You need people, support, love, and care.
So, you need to network strategically. Stay away from negative people or those who want to bring you down. Gravitate towards positive and kind ones that can uplift you.
Try to build connections in all the right places so your career can get a boost too!
All these things will prove to be extremely important down the line, especially as you get into your 30s.
Final Thoughts
Your 20s are the most important years of your life. It is a make-or-break period that will define how your life will shape up to be.
This is why it is important to be serious about how you live your 20s.
If you want to build the foundation of a happy and successful life, you will need to make a lot of tough choices. Even though you will be reluctant to do so, please know that it will all be worth it.
Let me know in the comments below: What tough choice out of the 13 resonated with you the most?
