13 Things About Life I Wish I Had Known When I Were In My 20s?

By William Beteet

 Dear Young Self,
  1. Porn is Ruining Your Sex Life So install a porn blocker and give Joey the Password
  2. Life isn’t a Rom-Com You aren’t going to marry Carol, stop trying to earn love, if a girl likes you awesome, if they don’t stop wasting your time.
  3. Your Parents Are Amazing – Call Them More
  4. You’re Not Special – You make yourself special using two tools, discipline and courage.
  5. Say No When You Want To – Learn to say no more. That’s how you focus, by saying no to distractions and people.
  6. Stop Planning – You have these huge plans for your life. None of these plans work. Just pick the direction you want your life to go and cultivate skills that are going to make that journey easier.
  7. Laugh at Being Jealous – You get jealous a lot, it’s not a big deal. When you do get jealous, say what you’re upset about out loud and start laughing. It will make you feel better and it stops you from taking yourself so seriously.

8. Don’t be Afraid of Being Alone – Time alone isn’t something to run away from it is to be cherished. So work on those novels and screenplays, go to the gym and read books – don’t cry, cultivate skills.

9. Stop Drinking – I know blasphemous, but when you’re 24 you quit drinking and you’re able to have even more fun when you go out to party and you save a lot of time not being hungover.

10. Work-Out – In the future you’re really muscular, part of what’s keeping you from going to the gym now is that you think you can’t put on muscle, you can, so start lifting.

11. Listen to Audiobooks When You Drive and Walk – You waste a lot of time listening to the same songs, over and over again. Listen to audiobooks, you’ll learn a lot and sound smarter.

12. Learn the Rules of Life – Look at life as it is not as you wish it to be.
There are unspoken rules in life, find out what they are and make them work in your favor. This means reading self-development books about relationships, discipline, mastery, economics and body language. Also talk to your Dad more (See #3) because he’s unbelievably wise and you’re unbelievably foolish.

13. Take One Risk a Day – These risks should be to make you better not worse (This isn’t a license to drive drunk), so email CEO’s and talk to pretty girls, you’d be surprised how much doing stuff like this will impact your life.

Bill your life turns out great, and you are on a path for success, but if you did these things earlier, you would have enjoyed life more along the way. These things will not only make you more successful, they will make you happier while striving for success.

If you’d like to hear more of my thoughts on life check out my podcast!
The Lazy Philosopher