“I’d tell myself to stop putting things off - get up and do it NOW”

What advice would you give your 18 year old self? I asked my network that question a few weeks ago... and people came up with some interesting responses!

We all wish we’d known last week’s lottery numbers ahead of time, that Bitcoin was worth an early punt, and that shares in Apple would go BIG.

But what advice would we give to our younger selves? And is that advice relevant for us today? (The answer to that question is a resounding YES!)

1. “Enjoy your hair while you have it - literally and metaphorically!”

If there’s one thing life teaches us, it’s that we never know what’s around the corner. Whether it’s a sudden injury, a progressive illness like arthritis, or even just the passage of time, our bodies can go wrong in serious and unexpected ways. The moral of the story? Enjoy what you’ve got while you’ve got it! Love your body and what celebrate what it can do and does do for you.

2. “Education really IS important - always”

Whether you choose to go an academic route or more vocational, it’s important to follow your heart. You don’t have to study law just because your mum’s a lawyer - you could be an electrician! And you don’t have to focus on vocational skills just because your grandad was a miner. Follow your passion and amazing things will happen in your life!

But even more importantly, education is a lifelong pursuit that doesn’t end when you complete your qualifications. Keep developing your professional skills because your industry will always change. And don’t forget to focus on those seriously important soft skills, the stuff that serves you across your whole life, not just your work - like relationship-building and resilience - 'bouncebackability' is a skill you can learn!

3. “Trust your instincts (don’t let your head do all of your thinking, all of the time)”

It’s so important to trust your instincts in life. If you’ve ever had that feeling of excitement and happiness after you made a decision, you know you made the right choice. Should you take that job offer? Go on that date? Sign up for that degree? Trust your instincts - your inner GPS as we call it - to help you make the right decision and you’ll be far happier than if you spend days overthinking everything. We can out-logic ourselves from most things. Sometimes it really is better to just do!

4. “Feel the fear and do it anyway!”

There are times in life when your head and your heart are in conflict. Your head tells you to stick with the job you’ve got - it’s well-paid, the pension is great and the benefits are fantastic. But your heart is telling you to jack it in and go trekking in Nepal for a couple of months before you come back home and set up your own outdoor activities business.

What should you do? It depends - are your circumstances really holding you back, or are you making excuses because you’re afraid to take the risk? There are times in our lives when taking the risk really isn’t possible - we have family obligations, or perhaps our financial circumstances don’t allow it - but I often find that when you cut through the bull**** and get right down to it, we’re just coming up with excuses not to act. You can do whatever you want. Be honest with yourself, and stop letting your fears hold you back.

5. “Don’t ever change who you are”

I’ve talked about authenticity before and how important it is. That means prioritising a job you love over a job that will get you a mansion; it means studying what you want to study instead of studying something “practical”; it means being yourself, always and not what you think other people expect you to be. Try everything and don’t concern yourself in presuming you know about what other people think - you’ll be happier in the long run.

6. “Stop putting things off - get up and do it NOW”

I’ve yet to meet a person who never procrastinates - we all sometimes give in to putting off important tasks. One of my clients would find any excuse to avoid key tasks. She would wash up, do the ironing, and sit and watch entire seasons of Game of Thrones before she ever put her mind to her monthly budget. And she’d tell you herself about the guilt spiral she fell into when she did acted that way.

But here’s the thing: when we procrastinate, we miss out and we actually drain our energy! We spend so much time dithering over little things, when there are so many other things we could be doing, goals we could be accomplishing but we spend our energy pushing something to the back of our mind instead. Often creating stress and less than positive consequences for ourselves. So much procrastination comes from a place of fear. Get real with yourself and take the action you’ve been putting off, whether that’s balancing your books, signing up for a course, or going on a date. Get it done!

7. “Stop worrying what others think and believe in yourself”

Comparisonitis will kill your dreams if you let it. Focus on what you are doing, on how you’re improving from yesterday and on what you’re going to do tomorrow to get even better. Looking around at others, checking on what’s going on in the other lane, only expends precious energy in ways that don’t offer you a strong return.

Invest your energy, don’t squander it and there’s no better way to do that than investing all of your energy, focus and curiosity in yourself. What are you doing to achieve your goals? How are you moving towards your ambitions today? You can really achieve anything you want.

You just have to believe in yourself.

If you could hop back in a time machine, what advice would you give your younger self? And is that advice still relevant to you today?