5 Ways To Make The Most Of Your Twenties
These are five ways to make the most of your twenties. You can apply these later in life too.
The best thing anyone can do is to invest in themselves. This runs contrary to a consumeristic culture. It runs contrary to what modern society tells you to do by wanting to always look out for others and be viewed as nice. Investing in yourself also contradicts what the institutions tell you to do. The institutions want you to trust them and be dependent upon them.
Financial Future
First, you want to invest in your financial future immediately. You want to start to make money as soon as you can. The faster you start being able to make money, the quicker you can begin to build a financial future for yourself.
That means you want to start to work so that you can begin to save money. When you work, you can also start to follow a budget. Following a budget can help you to build good financial habits when you are young. Some common ways to start following a budget include the envelope method, using a budget tracking app, or an app on your computer.
Once you have enough money saved up, you can start to find ways to make it work for you. You could decide to invest in the stock market. You could invest in real estate. You could also choose to start your own business. Today, it is easier to start a business due to the growth of the Internet. If done correctly, an online business can require little startup capital.
You want to continue to invest and reinvest your money while living below your means to grow wealth slowly.
The Financial System Is Built On Debt
Most people don’t discuss that the financial system is built on debt. Your dollar, or currency, is merely an IOU to the Federal Reserve which prints the currency.
This is why the system encourages people to go into debt by going to college or paying for a mortgage. The financial system feeds upon debt. Debt is what sustains the system until, eventually, it may implode.
The debt-based system is the dark secret of how society operates. The system wants to get as many people into debt as possible.
Education
Second, focus on education. When I talk about education, I mean self-education. I do not mean going to college. Society has it wrong by saying that everyone must attend college. College is a waste of time from my experience (I attended college and graduate school). It got me nowhere. You can read why young people should not attend college here.
A high school diploma and a college degree are merely pieces of paper.
Self-education is critical because you are a lifelong student. You continue to find things that interest you. Once you understand enough about one topic or master a skill, you can move on to the next thing.
You can educate yourself by reading a book. You can read blog posts or articles online about a topic of interest. You can watch videos. You can listen to a podcast. The key is always to continue learning.
One of the critical attributes of many self-made millionaires is they are always learning.
Relationships
Third is relationships. There are different types of relationships. There is the intrapersonal relationship and extra personal relationship. The first is with oneself. The second is with others.
You can have a relationship with yourself by learning to know yourself. This is called the intrapersonal relationship. If you do not know yourself, you will find yourself easily used by others. You may lack self-confidence and self-awareness and do not know your strengths. The good news is you can develop self-confidence as you work to reach your goals. You can learn about yourself by learning your likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and interests.
Next is your relationship with other people. That includes acquaintances, friends, family, and co-workers.
You have different levels of closeness to people. You do not need to know the names of everyone. You do not need to stay in touch with everyone. This is especially true with acquaintances. They are people you casually know from someplace, but the relationship never goes deeper.
There are degrees to friendship. You may have casual friends to a best friend. There are friends you may hang out with occasionally but only spend a little time with. You may have a best friend you talk to or do things with regularly.
You also have a relationship with your family. You may not always get along with your sibling or parents, but they are family. In a society that looks down upon family unity today, family is even more vital to value.
You also want to learn to recognize toxic people. Toxic people are people in your life who take away your energy. They also manipulate you. Mindbodygreen summarizes eleven traits of toxic people:
Emotional manipulation
Dishonest and lie
Gaslighting
Do not accept responsibility for their choices and actions
Do not have boundaries
Unsupportive
Drain your energy
Dominate the relationship
Encourage codependency in the relationship
Enjoy creating drama to control you
They are insincere when they apologize.
Relationships are critical to your health, from reducing stress to increasing lifespan.
Health
Fourth is to focus on your health. Modern society wants everything instantly. This is why pills and supplements are so popular. They don’t solve the problem. They hide the issue, yet they are told to be a solution. According to Ars Technics, 90% of the US has a poor diet, and 25% doesn’t exercise. Exercise and diet are the foundation of health.
Dr. Ruth Petersen, director of the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, said about inactivity, "Too many people are missing out on the health benefits of physical activity such as improved sleep, reduced blood pressure and anxiety, lowered risk for heart disease, several cancers, and dementia (including Alzheimer's disease)."
You are responsible for your health. Your health includes exercising, eating correctly, and getting enough sleep. These are simple things that many people need to do more of.
You can walk around where you live. You could go to the gym. You can eat smaller portions. You can eat more fruits and vegetables. You can drink more water. You can drink less alcohol. You can start to read ingredient labels. You can consume less processed foods.
I go to the gym a few times a week. I usually do between thirty minutes to an hour of cardio and about thirty minutes of lifting. It depends on what the goal is that I am trying to reach. I also avoid prepared and processed foods as much as possible. This means that I primarily cook all of my food to follow a whole foods diet with more of an emphasis on protein. You can figure out what works best for you, but avoiding processed foods is generally best.
Skills
The fifth is to discover your skills. The sooner you know your skills, the faster you can find ways to monetize them. It does take time to see what you are good at and enjoy. Everyone has unique skills.
It took me too long to discover my primary skills since I let myself get distracted by thinking I could work in IT. I did not have the skills to do so. I lack the speaking skills to be a good lawyer. Ultimately, I am more of a writer than anything. I am also good at connecting and synthesizing information. Those are my primary skills. The best thing I ever did was start my website. I enjoy gathering information to help people through Secure Single’s Substack.
It would help if you discovered what your skills are. The sooner you know your skills. The faster you can start to use them. You can then work to improve your life by finding ways to build income streams with your skills.
Secure Single’s Algorithm recommends:
Summary
These are five things that I wished I would have known about in my twenties. I was aware of some things listed, but not in the detail I have explained in this brief article. I wrongly trusted society’s institutions. People are now rightly losing trust in those institutions. The system is built to protect and benefit the rich, connected, and powerful, not to help the everyday person.
If you follow these five steps, you can start your journey to help yourself. Investing in yourself can make you less dependent on the system.
Become A Secure Single.
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