Recently, a friend asked me to offer some advice to his son, who is just twenty and preparing for his future career.
I told my friend that giving random advice is not helpful. It’s better to allow the young man to find his own path rather than fill his mind with potentially irrelevant ideas from someone he barely knows. There is no one-size-fits-all advice !!
But my friend insisted, so I agreed to share some general principles I had figured out from my own experiences, which I shared with my kids when they were flying the nest.
- To figure out what you love doing, you need to try out many things. Say yes to new experiences.
- Don’t settle for easy. Choose the challenging stuff. It’s the challenging stuff that makes you stronger and better.
- Prioritize your learning over money and titles. Learn new skills and invest in your own growth.
- If you can, create content that has value for others- Blogs, YouTube, and LinkedIn posts.
- Don’t worry about saving money in your twenties. Spend liberally on travel and seeing new places. Traveling helps you expand your perspective.
- Always try to be with people smarter than you- you will become smarter by osmosis.
- Try not to shy away from doing something because you are afraid.
- Be comfortable with disappointments and setbacks. They are necessary for success.