On Spotlight: 20 Things That You Need To Know In Your 20s

Have you ever feared the quarter life crisis?

You know, once you hit 25 years old, you will feel like you're carrying the world on your shoulders.

During every Chinese New Year, Deepavali or Hari Raya Aidilfitri, your Uncles and Aunties will bombard you with a lot of questions,

"When will you be getting married?"

"How much did you earn per month? Per year?"

"What profession are you in right now?"

And the list goes on.

Not to mention, they will tell you stories that,

"When I was your age, I already get married, have 2 kids and have a job."

Well, all these conversations will make you feel, so DRAINED! Like CAN YOU STOP ASKING ME THESE QUESTIONS?

It's Very Frustrating!

Honestly, questions like these will make you feel frustrated, left out and possibly... having FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)?

When you eventually reach that certain age, some of your friends will be getting married, having babies, a glittering career and so on.

But let's face it.

Do we really want the kind of life that they lived?

And do we really need the fancy items to impress the people that we don't like?

20 Things That You Need To Know In Your 20s

Here are a list of 20 things that you should really need to know when you're in your 20s.

1. You Have A Long Journey Ahead. That's right. You probably have around 70-80 years to live. Imagine if you wanted everything in an instant and you're going to spend another 60 years to regret your decisions.
2. Find Your True Passion. In your 20s, you should spend most of your time trying out things that you like in order to find what you truly like.
3. Failure Is Your Best Friend. Don't be afraid of failures. If you failed, it's okay to start all over again. Failure teaches us on not just what not to do, it also teaches us on how we can be humble in times of adversity.
4. Learn About Financial Literacy. It's important to keep your spending to a minimum and only spend on necessities. At these volatile times, you may not know when you will need some extra expenses. So, save it, keep it and if possible, invest it.
5. Don't buy expensive stuff to impress other people you don't like. One of the biggest mistake that I see in youths is that they tend to spend more to impress others. A new Apple iPhone 13, a brand new Smartwatch, a new Mercedes-Benz and living on debts. Why would you want to spend hundred of thousands just to end up in debts?
6. Live Independently. A lot of people are scared to move out of their parents house. It's their safe sanctuary. But unless you move out to live on your own, you'll never understand the struggle of how to be successful. You will have to make sure not to take any money from your parents while only funding your expenses based on the income you earned in your job.
7. Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone. In your 20s, it's the best time for you to get out of your own comfort zone. It's time to network with more people from different walks of life and gained insights into their profession, life and career. Who knows one day they can be our mentor for a more fulfilling life?
8. Find Your Career Clarity & Pursue It. As you have graduated from your university, you might just want to work in a corporate setting or just getting a job. But is it enough? Do you want to someday, climb up the corporate ladder? Or maybe get out of corporate to pursue your passion? Throughout your 20s, you will have plenty of time to figure this out and give this a go!
9. Be Active On Social Media. What's the use of having a LinkedIn account if you don't engage with people's postings, even if it's insightful to you? Or are you just having an Instagram account just to show what you got to others while crying in debts every night? So, stay active. Engage by commenting, likes and sharing valuable thoughts.
10. Work is just a small subset of Life. Why are you so serious at work? Do you really think that work = life? If there is one day you suddenly find yourself out of job, are you going to be miserable for the rest of your life? Truth to be told, you can find a job anywhere if you have the skills to do it. So, don't equate work to life.
11. Practice Gratitude everyday. If you wake up today and you find yourself surrounded with friends and family who cares for you, be grateful for it. Besides, gratitude can take you far in life.
12. Opportunities are of abundance. Just take a look around you. If you want a job, you can apply for as many jobs as you want. If you want to make extra income, there are a lot of coaches and entrepreneurs will help you with it. So, all you need to do is just be resourceful enough to find it.
13. Taking care of physical and mental health. The 2 most important aspect in our lives. Physical and mental health. If you're feeling depressed, talk to someone and let it out. Don't keep it in. If you're feeling unfit, go for a run at a nearby park. It's just that simple.
14. Treasure your family over everything else. Dom once said in the Fast & Furious, "Family is everything. Nothing can come close to replace your family once they're gone."
15. Stay Humble & Kind. It will take you far in life. Opening a door for someone, paying for someone's meal or just helping out a friend to find a job. Your kindness will be remembered for long.
16. Practice Giving Back To Society. Volunteer yourself at an orphanage or an old folks home. Listen to their stories and take that into your mind. You'll notice that they yearn for human connection or regret having being so selfish in their early lives. Take their stories as your life lesson to not repeat those mistakes.
17. Carpe Diem aka Seize the Day. We approximately sleep about 8 hours a day leaving us about 16 hours to do whatever things we wanted to do. So, in those 16 hours, you should learn how to maximize your time to learn new things, be more productive at work or have a personal self-development hour to improve yourself.
18. Take Personal Development seriously. Let's face it. You wanted to be a better version of yourself. But we often slack because we are too comfortable in our bubble zone. In your 20s, it is the best time to take your personal development goals to the next level. Our brain and body function are at its optimum level for improvement. So, take full advantage of it.
19. Learn About Accountability. I've seen many people in their 30s and 40s continued to blame others for their failures. The act of blaming others are actually giving away your power to others resulting you to feel powerless against any circumstances happened to you. Taking accountability means you take full responsibility of it and make the effort to correct it. If you learn to do that, you will be gearing up towards a successful future.
20. Always Keep An Open Mind. Believe it or not, an open mind can accept a lot of viewpoint from others as well as they're open to learn new things. It's a gift to have if you have an open mind, so take heart and listen to others opinion. Even if you disagree with their opinion of things, you can correct them or just agree with them that 1 + 1 = 7.

Block Out The Naysayers, Focus On Yourself

Another very crucial piece of advice to the young adults is this.

You need to stay away from the pessimist. The ones who say, "You can't do this or you can't that". This will only hinder your personal development progress.

Instead, what you can do is to stay focus on yourself and only hang out with those who believe in your talent. After all, we do need a strong support and believe system to thrive, right?

So, if you can time travel back to your 20s, would you be taking these steps to ensure a better life?

What else would you like to add to if you were to advise a person in their 20s?

These are the questions that you need to ask yourself and have a deep self-reflection to figure out what you actually wanted.

Final Thoughts

In your 20s, it is the best time for you to hit the high road and do whatever you want to do. Whether it is about going on stage competing to be the best singer or become a beauty pageant, you just have to trust yourself that you can do it.

So, go out, explore your talents and take it to the level that you really want to see yourself achieving that goal.

But if, somehow when you reach the big 30 and you didn't achieve the goals you've set for yourself, just remember that you still have another 60 years to achieve it.

So, just practice a bit more patience and initiate the effort to achieve the goals you've set.

Until then, stay safe and take good care.

~ Cazey Tan, Content Creator