28 Crucial Life Lessons I’ve Learned At 28 Years Old.
I am in denial about hitting my 30s.
Author’s own image
But it’s there. Staring me in the face.
Just like my lingering lower back pain, and the fact that I have ever-increasing sensitivity to dairy and shellfish, turning 30 is inevitable.
In our youth-obsessed culture, turning 30 is regarded as a cliffhanger moment. A time when we take stock to reflect on whether we are on the right track or have veered off in a different direction entirely.
But instead of remaining in denial, I am viewing my 30s as an opportunity for even more aggressive growth to:
Build my business and make more money
Travel the world
Live a more fulfilled and meaningful life
Most of what I’ve written below might not be applicable to you.
But if you can take the abstract principles and apply them to your context, you might get a similar result.
Principles transcend circumstance. Remember that.
Do one strategic thing every day.
Identify the most high-leverage activity available to you that day. Spend a little bit of time working on it. Repeat this process long enough and you’ll build an incredible amount of momentum with less and less effort.
Build digital leverage early and often.
You first build digital leverage, and then you build whatever you want. Once you’ve got digital leverage, any business you want to start becomes 10x easier.
Make choices that produce more options.
Most unhappiness seems from a lack of choices. Feeling stuck is a happiness killer. My only goal in life is to take actions that produce more options. I won’t take most of them, but that’s not the point.
Enjoy your time being single.
There will never be a point in time when I will have more time to myself, with few responsibilities and obligations. I am investing that time in building life experiences, creating unique memories and understanding who I am as a person.
Understand everyone is on a different path.
Your path will diverge from your friends. Some will be getting married. Others will be having children. Many will be settling for a normal life. Don’t feel the need to comply. Take the road less traveled and enjoy the journey.
Become aware of environments that bring the best and worst out of you.
I don’t like loud places. I don’t enjoy bars or nightclubs. I do like quiet cafes or restaurants where I can chat and people-watch.
Optimize these three things — sleep, exercise, and mindfulness.
If you can prioritize this in your daily routine, your general well-being will improve by 80% or more.
Create more, consume less.
Creating will set you free. Consuming keeps you trapped. Creating creates positivity. Consuming creates negativity. You can never create too much.
Ordinary days dictate extraordinary days.
How you execute on your ‘off-days’ dictates how much you will execute when you’re in flow. Your off days will build more resilience and grit than your flow days ever will.
Choose your pain.
The pain of growing hurts. The pain of regret hurts. The pain of staying the same hurts. But only one pain has the potential to change your life. Choose wisely.
Crave the process, not the desire.
If you don’t like the lifestyle of an entrepreneur, maybe starting your own business is not for you. If you want a result, but don’t love the process, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
Invest in strengths, and mitigate weaknesses.
While I am always wanting to improve, I have accepted that I will never be competent in some skills (i.e design). I am better off paying someone to do it rather than getting frustrated with myself.
Learn from everyone, but accept advice carefully.
Everyone can teach you something if you look hard enough. But interrogate people’s advice carefully. Most of the time they are projecting their insecurities onto you.
Emotion follows motion.
You’ll always feel better after starting. If you want to feel inspired, do something inspiring. If you want to feel energized, do something energizing.
Don’t suffer twice.
If you hesitate before getting into a cold shower, you suffer twice. Once in the cold water hitting part of your body. The other in the thought of going all in. Choose to suffer once.
The most important relationship is with yourself.
If you can love yourself and enjoy your own company, you will attract better relationships. The most attractive partner or friends are those who don’t need you in their life but want you in their life.
Travel reveals, as much as it teaches.
Traveling will highlight how you react to adversity, how you manage uncertainty, and how you recover from setbacks. Learn from these moments.
Learn what foods work for your body.
Switching to being vegetarian has changed my life. I feel more energetic, happier, and healthier. Find the diet that works best for you.
You’ll outgrow mentors. And that’s okay.
If you grow enough, you’ll need new mentors for each stage of your development. There’s nothing wrong with that. Many of my old mentors, I now consider friends.
You’ll cut off friends. And that’s okay.
Some people are in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Every friendship has its value and an expiration date.
There’s no in-between.
You are either getting worse or getting better. There’s no such thing as staying the same. Once you accept this reality, you can get clear on the direction you’re moving in.
Every emotion you feel is finite.
This too shall pass. While strong emotions feel eternal at the moment, time heals all wounds and dampens powerful emotions.
Protect your peace.
I protect my morning routines at all costs. The first 3–4 hours of my day are sacred and are for me to use how I feel like it. This time of the day is reserved for exercise, mindfulness and creativity.
Stop asking for permission.
Asking for permission is fear disguised as a question. There are no physical gatekeepers to achieving what you want, only psychological ones.
Don’t take criticism from people you wouldn’t take advice from.
Not all criticism is created equally. Learn to ignore the noise. Listen for signals.
Travel will set your mind free and fuel your creativity.
There is nothing else that compares to exploring a new culture and immersing yourself in a new environment. Use that fuel to create something meaningful.
You can find inspiration from anyone and anywhere.
I’ve learned life lessons from 20 years old. I’ve learned even more from 30-year-olds. I even learned from a 50-year-old digital nomad. Everyone is smarter than you in some way. Learn from them.
Spend time thinking about your problem, not just thinking of your problem.
Think about your problem, makes you think of solutions. Thinking of your problem only makes you more anxious and stressed.
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