3 Things, Especially In Your 20’s — The best time to build the foundation for your life.
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash
Lately, I started a new side hustle, interviewing startup founders, entrepreneurs about how they launched their careers.
One of the people I asked, Taker, my mentor, shared life experience, career journey with me. He created an online course teaching people to build the website step by step and ultimately help his student create a life they want which means living a financial freedom life.
I learned the first step is to learn a SKILL.
Helping people, making people’s life easier, exchange for money is a win-win approach and it’s not impossible to make it happen.
Living on my own terms, leaving the office working style, 9–5 jobs I don’t like to commit have been always my plan, my dream. So I started trying new things on the side.
One night, I had a casual talk with my Dad, I don’t know where is the idea came from, I simply asked him: “ Dad, would you ask your ex-girlfriend why she decided to break up with you?“
He said “No“ at first, “You should know before that happens, or there are signs you might be just overlooked, or you just too dumb or not much care about your relationships.”
I asked: “But what if I just don’t know what went wrong, how could I improve if I don’t ask her why?“
Dad responds: “You could ask her, but my point is you should know what went wrong in your relationship.“
Then the conversation leads to more broadly.
“Son, you know what, the part of falling in love is easy. You’re 24 now, dating a girl is not the hard part. When talks about committing to a new relationship, you still can’t run from the essential things:
“Taking good care of yourself. Financially and Physical”
“Build a career you want or make sustainable money at least”
“Being kind to people“
It got me thinking, I mentioned two casual conversations for a reason,
it implies something here, a pattern.
If yes, do you still remember how Tim arranges the order of the chapters?
No? give it a try! the books are full of great amounts of advice on life, career. But, keep in mind that there is no one size fits all advice. However, being open-minded to give new ideas a try to see what works for you is not a bad idea.
The reason I mentioned this is because I noticed that the order of the chapters goes like this:
- Health
- Wealth
- Wisdom
These exactly are the fundamental ingredients to create the life you want. Without any of them, you need to slow down and pay attention to building them patiently.
Health
As you know, one of the best investments you can make is an investment in your health.
People full of energy could achieve anything. How?
The way to be in that state is to start taking care of your body seriously.
There is a reason why training your body, physically, not simply just for better body shape. The process of training is uncomfortable, it helps you build resilience, and finally, through the process, it would gradually build a strong mind, mentally strong. which are the traits normal people lack but could be developed.
I work out at the gym every single day, just 1 hour, sometimes 25 minutes.
Make time, you have 8 hours to binge-watching Nextflix, don’t have 25 minutes to do something else? Stop making some shit excuses.
it’s one of the great investments in the long term. Also, I can find peace from it.
Training muscle needs focus, somehow a perfect alternative way to meditate.
The additional value is to get a good shape and help me build more confidence, it expands to other areas of my life.
Wealth
We could make lots of money in many different ways. The wealth means you could support your own life, live the way you want, being independent.
Some people think making more and more money is good, I don’t think that’s totally wrong, but it’s not totally right. When I hear people say their dream is making a lot of money without a specific goal and how they’re going to take advantage of it, they usually mean they just need a sense of security.
After trying and making lots of stupid career decisions, I start following my heart, the voice in my head, the intuition. I look in the inner self and it makes me feel more peaceful, not much anxious like years ago. I need to focus on myself.
Looking for something that excites you or at least you don’t hate about it, build a career around it.
Be patient.
Wisdom
How to be wiser? Making bad decisions get you more experience. The more experiences you have, the wiser you are.
it came from experiences, everyone has their own unique experiences. That would turn into your unique advantages or even shape the way how you view the world.
Wisdom is not about knowing everything, it’s about knowing who you are, making the choice that works for you, and how you respond to those life struggles, challenges.
Closing Thoughts
Nobody is coming to save you. Start building the foundation intentionally.
The doctor can’t save you if you keep sticking with bad habits and being weak physically and mentally.
The trainer you hired can’t help you build a strong, healthy body if you don’t show up at the gym, lying on the couch.
Parents can’t keep feeding your mouth when they get older if you still do nothing to support yourself, let alone build a career or try new ideas?
God can’t help you grow if you keep staying fixed-minded.
The only one who could save yourself is YOU.
Start building foundation TODAY.