Adulting should really be optional, but it's not, so here are some decisions to make now. Still in the mood of the whole #newyearnewme fiasco, whether you're 18 or however old you are when you read this....
Understand you have time
Remember that you have time, life is a marathon, not a sprint. As overused as that saying is, the bitter sweet truth lies in the detail. Marathons are hard, like really hard, like trust me you are not waking up tomorrow morning and running a full marathon willingly, kinda hard.
1. You're never really done
2. Its all in the planning
3. You gotta keep in top shape inside out
4. You gotta keep moving
Meet lots of people and network
Time to start networking, even if you keep your friend pool shallow, make that network pool deep.
Try new things and hobbies
You are probably never going to be this free, strong or courageous again, make the most of it. Try something new every chance you get.
Learn as much as you can
Learn, learn, learn; learn to play that instrument, learn a phrase in another language, learn the basics of coding etc. Just pick something and learn.
Build relevant skill sets
All of the top achievers I know are life-long learners. Looking for new skills, insights, and ideas. If they're not learning, they're not growing and not moving toward excellence.
-Denis Waitley
Get out of your comfort zone
“The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease, and secure. You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ― Roy T. Bennett
Make small continuous improvements
No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.
-Madonna
Learn about yourself
“Be yourself — not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” — Henry David Thoreau
You know that annoying line "I want to discover myself", It may not be as bogus as it sounds, its best you know who you are, know yourself inside out, once you know your worth, you'll be playing a whole different game and no one can make you feel worthless.
Discover what you are good at
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” - Oprah Winfrey
In life there are those things that keep drawing us in, the things we love doing and we can do them with such ease. Target that, polish it and see how far it could take you.
Build good habits and routines
The person you will be in 5 years depends largely on the books you read, the people you spend time with, the food you eat, the habits you adopt, and the conversations you engage in today.
Join a good company – work to learn
Once you its time to enter that work force, join a good company and don't just work for money, work for experience, work to learn.
Don’t let opinions hold you back
“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.” ~Don Miguel Ruiz
Caring what people will think or what people think is so much irrelevant effort and it tends to hold you back from reaching your potential.
Put in the work
Since you are just starting out, put in the work. Even the saying says work hard, play hard; put in the work, Work Smart so you can Play even Harder.
Manage your money well
Remember, in your early adulthood, more than any other point in your life, the financial decisions that made have the highest impact on your lifelong financial health.
Travel as much as possible
You got the time, energy, maybe the money; so explore as much as you can, open your mind and you will be amazed how much this can change your outlook of life.
Ps: It does not have to be to another country, it could be another city, even somewhere in your city that you've never been before, just explore.
Define success for yourself
Society tends to put different ideas of success for us and these milestones can be impossible and may not even align with our personality or perspective.
Find out what success means to you and plan towards it, zone out others
Fail fast, fail hard, fail often
You got this, shoot for the moon but not as your end goal but your starting point.
To succeed you are going to need to try and you are probably going to fail, so fail and fail but fail fast, fail hard and fail often.
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