34 Tips for Your Younger Self
In January, we asked you what advice you’d give your younger self as part of our regular We Ask, You Answer feature.
There was plenty of great advice—and a lot of catharsis, it seemed—and we’ve collected some of the best tips for you here.
1. Don’t worry about the future.
2. Follow your passion, even if it does not pay very well. If you are good at what you do and love your career choice - the money will eventually follow.
3. Now is the time to establish good habits for life in every area; they might take a lot of hard work to form, but it’s worth the effort and missed television.
4. Listen more, listen better, pay attention and remember! Many people have been there and done that and can save you some headaches—but only if you listen.
5. There are some narcissistic whackjobs and bitter people in the world who will make your life a misery and who are so firmly embedded in their own version of reality that they’ll never change. Should you have the misfortune to encounter such a person, in whatever capacity, don’t hang around any longer than you absolutely need to.
6. If you get an idea that inspires you, act on it immediately! The best ideas are often the first to fade from memory, or get put on the backburner indefinitely.
7. Pay more attention to advice from adults. Or, pay less attention to advice from adults.
8. Keep playing, laughing and having fun, don’t get too serious!
9. When you’re planning your college major, don’t just think about the classes or subject matters you like most. If you want to climb the management chain, take management classes, not just marketing classes!
10. Don’t go out to eat so much; put the money in a high-interest account instead! Self-control with your money means freedom to live the way you want to live down the road.
11. Beyond just saving, learn to manage money now so you won’t make so many stupid mistakes later or develop nasty habits.
12. Don’t stress about relationships. If it works, it works, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
13. Be more assertive! Be more spontaneous.
14. Tell your parents and grandparents you love them. You don’t know how soon they will die.
15. There’s so much you don’t know, but you have such a great opportunity to keep learning. Never, ever stop learning.
16. Never ever stop asking questions about how the world works. Make “Why?” your favorite one.
17. Go to a state university. Going to a private college isn’t worth the extra money.
18. Learn about maintaining optimum health while you still have it. Get started with healthy eating and exercise young, so you don’t spend half your life worrying about weight, blood pressure, heart attacks and all sorts of weight-related problems.
19. Don’t be afraid to ask people for things you want if the worst outcome is that they say no.
20. Get over it and kiss the girl!
21. Don’t stress out all the time. It will eventually take its toll on you in various forms.
22. Have fun while you can. Go out with your friends. Plenty of opportunity is going to come your way.
23. Stand up for yourself once in a while. People will respect that.
24. Don’t just save on take-out. Save 10% off the top of every paycheck and do not touch it until you retire.
25. Be prepared for your life to change. Realize that the relationship you thought you had is going to end. Don’t let what is happening paralyze you with fear.
26. Be aware of life-altering decisions when you’re young. Think seriously about having kids because they will dramatically change your life.
27. Expand yourself, even if you are sure where you are going. Learn something totally unrelated to your passion. Visit a place you wouldn’t normally go. A flexible mind and attitude will take you very far and allow you to handle the uncertainties in life.
28. Make your life your passion. Don’t get stuck being defined by your job. Start a website, get your name out there, volunteer, teach.
29. You’re (probably) not going to die next week. Figure out what you want to do with your life. You don’t want to be 37, broke, unemployed, and still living in your bedroom at mom’s house.
30. Don’t put off being happy. Don’t be the person that says, “I’ll be happy when…” Happiness is only found in the present. Now, today. Try to find some happiness in the journey of life—don’t think about the destination. It’s just a wooden box.
31. Do all the crazy stuff. Take the risks. They’re totally worth it!
32. Whatever you do, believe in yourself. You have untapped potential, and you will accomplish everything you have dreamed about. No one has the right to tell you can’t do something great in your life. Don’t allow them to justify their mediocre lives by destroying your dreams.
33. Improve your skill set. Learn a foreign language. Learn a martial art. Learn web design. Learn piano.
34. As for the best piece of advice anyone had to offer: take a piece of paper. The lottery numbers for January 1998 are…
You can check out the unedited list of tips in the original We Ask, You Answer column. All in all, Lifehack readers left 60 responses. Thank for taking part and sharing your retrospective advice!
Unfortunately, retrospect is something that comes too late to be of much use to ourselves in the past—but your experience may just help another reader avoid the mistakes that you found yourself making throughout your life.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Joel Falconer
Offering a unique perspective and insight on productivity based on his experience as a writer, musician, family man and manager, Joel Falconer has been published online and off, and brings to Lifehack's readers practical advice you can use to be more efficient and effective.
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Comments
Stan Ryan says on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 am
Regarding (2. Follow your passion, even if it does not pay very well. If you are good at what you do and love your career choice - the money will eventually follow.)
That’s really not entirely true. You might not care so much that your passion is low-paying, but “the money” usually does not follow. Only a very few rise above subsistence playing English horn, photographing nature, or baking pies.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow your passion: Just don’t expect that you’ll ever be able to move next door to Jed, Daisy, Jethro, and Elly May.
Rick - Tripping the Muse says on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Excellent post. One of the few I felt obliged to print out and save. Great job and thank you!
Rick
Gail says on April 2nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Sounds nice but unfortunately sometimes there are circumstances that make some impossible. Life isn’t all easy and fun. Hard to smile when your life is falling apart and there are no more doors left to open. Also no one mentions spirituality. After all those things fail you needs to have faith in something other then self ( something even higher then YOU )
Deb says on April 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I have to disagree with #17 as a blanket statement. Having attended 6 colleges and universities in the process of working toward my BA I have seen a broad-spectrum of educational experiences. The first private I attended was too small and too rich; whereas the first state I attended was too big and impersonal as well as being too close to home. I firmly believe that for every student there is the right school; and when they find it they will find a way to stay there and finish.
@Gail - I didn’t get the impression that the author meant to imply that life was always fun and easy; but it is important to find out how to be happy in the midst of difficulty.
MrPositioning.com (Stanley Bronstein) says on April 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I would expand on #32.
Believe in yourself, your abilities, your talents and your ideas.
I ALWAYS share that with younger audiences during my public speaking engagements.
Mr. Positioning
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney, CPA, Author & Professional Speaker
SG says on April 4th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Thank-you for sharing. Wonderful advice. I am very glad that I am reading this at the age of 19. Will definitely use this advice. =)
iladelf@gmail.com says on April 5th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Sadly, I only wish #2 were true. The two things I’ve done career-wise, radio DJ/PD and on-site computer repair have netted me virtually zilch in the money department since I graduated college nearly 20 years ago.
I truly love both, but let the first go eight years ago and the second, I’m now entering the job hunt to either leave it or make it a moonlighting gig on the side.
Very disappointing. So, #2 isn’t always true.
Luigi says on April 6th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Some of this is good, albeit much is a little too cutesy to be given serious consideration. One particular point needs to be debunked. In short, you’d do well to go to private post-secondary school. You’ll grow as a person by not doing “high school part II” with that same old crowd at your state U. The whole jock, nerd, rich-kid, etc. identity typecasting thing seems to be greatly diminished at the private schools. Sure, many students at the private schools are wealthy –the thing is that they often do a very good job of hiding it! State school rich kids drive Hummers. Private school rich kids drive old Subarus. Unless you really want a sports team to support and call your own (you can give them your chemistry notes!), saving money on undergrad tuition by going to Big State U is a fool’s bargain. Go to a private school in the Northeast US if you can. You won’t regret it. At private school you meet the right people. That’s worth it’s weight in gold. On top of that the private school diploma’s portability and prestige will pay for itself by opening many doors in your later life.
Will says on April 10th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I think Tip 8. Keep playing, laughing and having fun, don’t get too serious! is a great tip for our younger selves to our older selves!
Remember when we were kids and didn’t have any worries in the world, we could chase bubbles and laugh our heads off at anything. It’s unfortunate that careers and money become the forefront of our lives and replace adventure and fun as our priorities.
Don’t take life too seriously! while we have more responsibilites as we grow older we should always bring out our inner child when its time to unwind.
Anonomya says on April 27th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
@Luigi - You made a great point about meeting the right people at a private University. I’ve been through every type of school until I finally had the financial opportunity to go to a private school, and it is a whole different world. Yes, it’s fast-paced and more difficult, and no you won’t be able to have the wild social life that the public U studens have, but you learn much more. Most importantly you learn techniques for assimilating information quickly that you can take with you for the rest of your life. The people that you meet at a good private Univeristy (including the teachers) tend to be more passionate and can be great contacts when it comes time to get a job.
I do have to say though that a Community College is the best way to start out for the money. You don’t have to worry so much about the cost of switching majors if you change your mind and by the time you are done, you can transfer those credits to a private school easily. Transferring also restarts your GPA calculation which can be a real life saver if you didn’t start out so great.
As for me? I would have told my younger self to stay away from tech school. All they teach you is how to memorize questions and answers, not anything of substance about the subject.
I would also have told my younger self to open a savings account and start putting away a little something each month (even $20). It’s very difficult to get into that habit later in life! Of course, back then I didn’t know about the joys of compound interest