4 Major Lessons I Learned in My 20s

This year I turn 30 years old. Ten years ago, I was 20 years old and during that time period I was just starting college. I didn't know what my life would be like when I turn 30. Going through the past ten years, I've learned many lessons. I want to point out four major lessons that I believe that will change the trajectory of your life if you are still in your 20s or if you have a friend or kids that are in their 20s. Read this article all the way through so you don't miss any details because each lesson fall in line with each other.

Lesson 1: Have a Vision for Your Career

I know you may be thinking Lawrence you suppose to live it up in your 20s and have fun. I agree to this statement, however I believe your 20s is also a setup for what your life will be like in your 30s. You can still have fun and create new experiences in your 20s, but I also want you to be clear on your career because if you are clear early on it will save you time and frustration once you reach your late 20s going into your 30s. I say this because for me I wasn't clear on what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I wanted to own a business one day and to own a business I believed that I had to go to school for it which is not true today because you can still own a business without having the business degree. Nevertheless, I went that route to go to school as a business management major to then switch my major to agricultural business management. Now you may ask why did I switch to that major? I honestly switched to that major not because I liked it, but because of the opportunities it provided. I've received a full ride scholarship and received a guaranteed internship every summer my junior and senior year of college. The unfortunate part is that even though I switched majors and received a lot different opportunities from it, it was hard for me to land a job offer in that field right after college. I talked more about that in my previous article which you can check out by clicking HERE. However, I am grateful for all the good things that happened from making that switch and I don't know where I would be today if that didn't happen.

The point is you need to have a clear vision of what you want to do with your career. Having a clear vision requires you to sit down, think, and do your research on what career fields are out there. I can write another article talking specifically about this topic and the steps you can do but for now to keep it simple just do your research and get a career coach to help you with finding a career that fits you.

Lesson 2: Choose Your Friends and Partner Wisely

I had a lot of different relationships going on before, during, and after my college days. Some of them were good and bad. Now with this advice that I'm about to tell you this doesn't mean you will avoid every bad relationship. Instead, it will help you be more aware of the type of relationships you should have and look for. The people that you keep around is going to dictate how you are as a person and what your future will be like. Also with this advice it can vary based on how you were raised as well. Before you start picking friends and a partner you need to make sure you have two things in place. You need to have a therapist and you need to have boundaries. Having therapist can be beneficial in many different ways. To keep things short as it relates to picking friends and a partner, a therapist can help you become more aware of yourself and help you heal childhood trauma. If you become the best version of yourself and heal your childhood wounds you will attract others that have done the same which will make relationships a whole lot easier. For boundaries this is something that you NEED to have because for me early on, not having boundaries put me in relationships I wasn't suppose to be in. Growing up, I was the type of person who accepted any and everybody in my life. I wasn't taught how to set boundaries with people, but I was taught how to be generous. If you don't have boundaries you should start creating and setting some now. The way you create boundaries is you got know your values and once you know your values all you have to do is choose people that align with your values. For example, I value respect, honesty, open-mindedness, integrity, God, and a desire to continuously improve as a person. If you don't value any one of these things or not that kind of person then there is no need for you to be my close friend or partner no exceptions. If you currently have friends or a partner I suggest you do an evaluation on them. If they don't add value into your life then it best to remove yourself from them. If you do decide to remove yourself from them don't feel bad about it because you need to do what's best for you in your life. You can always find someone and they can too.

Lesson 3: Be a Good Steward Over Your Finances

This advice is another important advice and when done right it can set you up very big when you get in your 30s. I made a lot of financial mistakes in my 20s but there are four mistakes I want to bring to you today to help you out as you navigate your 20s as well.

• The first mistake is having student loans. I went to school out of state and I got student loans to pay for school. Fortunately for me it's not as much as it should be because I got a full ride scholarship my junior and senior year of undergrad and a portion of grad school. Looking back, I could of searched for more scholarships and grants before I started college, but I was too lazy to be honest. Now I'm still paying for my choices 10 years later. Was it worth it yes. Would I do that again no. Please do your research and pay cash or get funding for school through scholarships and grants. In my opinion its not worth getting six figures of student loans to pay for it because there is no guarantee that you will get a return on your investment after you graduate. You can always go to community college, trade school, or take online classes as an alternative.
• The second mistake is not having an emergency fund. Having an emergency fund would of prevented me from my third mistake which I will mention later and also prevent me from asking friends and family for money. This is self explanatory because emergencies can happen at anytime. The question is will you be ready for when it happen. If you don't have an emergency I suggest you start saving your money. I say have at least 3-6 months worth of living expenses. If you can't do that then you can have a starter emergency fund of $1,000. If you want to account for inflation you can raise that to If you really trying to have financial peace you can save a whole year of expenses. The more the better. That way when life happens you will be ready.
• The third mistake is getting into credit card debt. Getting in to credit card in my opinion is the worst debt that you can get especially if you are not able to pay off the balance in a month or two. There are lot of advice that tell you that you can use other people's money aka credit cards or loans for emergencies or getting rich. This advice is only good if you are able to pay whatever you borrow back in the next month or two because if you don't then you would have to worry about paying interest which can be high especially for credit cards. If I would of had an emergency fund or paid cash for my purchases I wouldn't have credit card debt. For my advice pay cash for everything and avoid getting into debt. If you don't have the money for it just work and save money for it.
• The fourth mistake is not investing early. What I mean as far as investing is investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. These are assets that will pay you over time from increasing in value. When it comes to investing, you need to be educated first before starting because investing involves risk and you can lose money in the process. One great way to start investing is by taking advantage of your job's 401k retirement plan. This is a retirement savings account that you can contribute and invest your dollars into different assets and have it grow over time. If your job doesn't have a 401k you can also open up a traditional or Roth IRA account which is another type of retirement account that will help you save for retirement and invest in assets too. These are good starting points for you so take advantage of them starting now if you haven't already.

Lesson 4: Make Your Health a Priority

While you are in your 20s your mental and physical health should be your priority because you have the advantage that people that are 30 and up don't have which is more time and less difficulty. In your 20s you are typically free to do whatever you want to do now that you may not be living with your parents anymore. With that freedom there is always going to be a cost with the choices that you make. For me after I moved out of my parents house I chose to eat unhealthy and not see a therapist. I grew up with a lot of rules I had to follow and my first taste of freedom was when I moved out so I did whatever I wanted to do. This backfired on me as I went through my 20s because I made some bad choices like getting overweight for my height and experiencing terrible relationships. When turned 24 I started to put my head down, lost 40 pounds and started going to therapy. My relationships started to become better as well. I became a more improved version of myself by learning from my mistakes.

Conclusion

If you implement these four keys into your life while in your 20s you will be well ahead of your peers. I hope that the advice that I brought to you has been beneficial. If you do decide that you will start implementing these keys let me know and keep me updated on your progress. I love seeing and hearing success stories from the advice that I give to others. Also share this article with your peers.