Some people think life begins at 40. But I do believe your life starts at 20. Because truth be told, the moment you turn 20, that’s when you start to care how things are going on in your life. You begin to get concerned about what career you want to pursue, what ideal partner you wish to have, what ideal lifestyle you want to live. And I think there is nothing wrong with that. When you get yourself concerned about all these things, it means you just want something good for yourself, and you want to see your life going somewhere.
Your 20’s are very interesting years of your life. You have a lot of energy to build yourself in preparation for the next coming years. Therefore in this article, I am going to share with you 3 important areas that I think you should focus on when growing up in your 20’s.
1. Build Yourself
When I am saying build yourself, I am not talking about going to the gym to build those muscles (even though it’s one way of building yourself). I am talking about building a positive vibe within you that will drive you throughout your entire life. Most people are dragged behind by the negativity they have accumulated inside their inner selves, such that over years and years, they find themselves getting stuck in their own life.
Are you doing enough to make sure you are building a rich positive mindset to penetrate all areas of your life? Are you feeding your mind the right things – remember the garbage in garbage out philosophy? Are you taking care of your health? Are you mindful of what you are consuming through your mouth, your eyes or your brain? Are you taking care of your body? Because this is going to determine your happiness moving forward. I believe the 20’s are your most critical years to build or trash your life.
The time to build skills is in your 20’s – income generating skills, social skills and other life skills. This is what will drive you through as you build your career and live up by yourself.
2. Build Your Social Life
Building your inner self is probably one of the easiest thing to do, at least from my own experience. Building your social life, however, might cost you getting out of your comfort zone. People always put themselves in two categories: introvert and extrovert. I think this is just an illusion. It is the person themself that just decide what category they are comfortable to be in. Most people choose to be in the former – introverts. This is just because it is the easiest category to be. It doesn’t require a lot of effort from within yourself. Because at the end of it all, it just involves being with you and yourself. I think it is the laziest category to be in.
Think of the opportunities you are losing by locking yourself
When I was growing up throughout my teenage years, I thought I was an introvert. Looking back and noticing all the opportunities I lost by placing myself in this category, I believe I was just being lazy. I just didn’t have the balls to get out of my comfort zone, so that I can be in the other category. Building your social life is the greatest thing you can ever do in your 20’s.
Your social life involves the friends you have, your partners, and your relationships in general. The hardest part for most people however, is how to build it. Most people don’t know how to start a conversation with a stranger. They don’t know how to make good friends. How to express themselves when they are around other people. They don’t know how to communicate their thoughts, their emotions, and their feelings to the person on the other end.
You can learn to unlock yourself
When you find yourself struggling with all these, the most important justice you can do to yourself is taking the step to actually improve. That might mean going to your most ‘extrovert’ friend and asking them how they do it. It might mean reading a book about how to get social around people, or how to make friends and build relationships. In other more advanced cases, it might mean going to a professional to coach you through. Whatever it might take, it is a great thing to do to take your social life to the next level.
One thing that I find easy to do and build your social life naturally, is placing yourself in social set ups. That means going to social events, attending meetups and other social activities. For my case, I started by going to hiking events, and joining youth activities – like singing in choirs. And I must admit – getting the courage to learn talking to people was never easy for me. For most of the events I participated, I came out without making any friend – 99% of the times. But because there was the inner itching urge within myself to unf*ck this ‘introvert’ part of me, I just started talking to people by default – even when I was shaking internally. And by putting myself in this situation, I found myself getting comfortable with talking to strangers and making new friends. It was the best achievement of my life going forward. At least I don’t lose opportunities nowadays when they present themselves (if you know what I am talking about).
Here is why you should consider building your social life in your 20’s
You learn how to create a good circle of friends that can help you grow and become a better version of yourself. You learn how to express yourself around people – which is even more important for example when going for those interviews and building your career. You also learn how to network and grow long-term relationships. This will help you through even when you decide to build your businesses and run your empires. Remember the saying ‘Your Network is Your Net Worth’.
3. Build Your Financial Discipline
While building yourself and your social life is important, most people forget to build their financial discipline. They either ignore it or just do not know if financial discipline exists. And this is where most financial problems and crises happen to the most members of the public. Which is why I find it important that you should consider looking at your financial discipline, especially when you are in your 20’s.
Financial discipline basically means getting aware of how you are interacting with your money. Do you know how and where you are spending your money? Do you know how you manage your finances? Because chances are, you start getting your first real jobs and making money when you are in your 20’s. You start doing this hustle and that hustle. And while sometimes you think you are making little money that you should not care about, how you spend and manage this money most of the times build your money habits moving forward.
Be aware
There are good money habits and bad money habits. When you invest your money, whether in your personal development or in your business, that is good money habits. If you are the type of person that would rather drink than pay your remaining house rent, that is bad money habits. When you track records of where you are spending your money on daily basis, that is good money habits. When you borrow more money than you can make, that is probably a bad money habit. I am not a certified financial advisor, but I believe you should start learning and getting concerned of your financial discipline in your 20’s, so that you prepare for a good happy life in your later years. Because as they say, life is all about a balance of health and wealth.
That wraps up my take on 3 areas you should focus on when growing up in your 20’s. To give you a summary:
- Build yourself – your mindset and your income/career skills
- Build your social life – your friends and your relationships
- Build your financial discipline – how you use your money
If you are in your 20’s and you are struggling with any of these areas, let us know in the comment section below. And if you find this article useful, share it with your family and friends – so they get to love you even more.