The world is very youth-oriented these days, and it is lovely to feel fit and young. But being older does bring one truly significant advantage in life.
Experience! Nowadays young people scoff at the benefits of experience, but it’s rightly called the greatest teacher. So what do older people know that young people don’t?
They know that you’ll be far happier once you learn to forgive your parents for their mistakes, and start fixing your own errors and inadequacies. This is because it’s the easiest thing in the world to complain about how badly life is treating you, and especially what your parents got wrong. And the hardest? Going after your own dreams and making them come true all by yourself.
Realising that is a key insight because no-one else is ever going to make your life a success for you. You absolutely have to learn how to do that for yourself. They also know that you only really become an adult when you stop taking things personally. And that anytime you make a step forward in your life, you’ll lose some of your friends.
They know that you really must resist making impulsive decisions before your mid-twenties, because the part of your brain that thinks through the consequences of your actions isn’t up to speed until then.
And that by age 30 you should be taking life really seriously, saving hard for your future and putting real effort into finding the right partner. Getting that right will determine your future happiness more than anything else you do in life.
They know that if you always wait for the right time to start something, then you’ll never achieve anything. And that once you learn that you don’t always have to win every argument, you’ll start to become a much nicer person. They know how important it is to learn to take action and to be self-disciplined about the things you choose to do. Putting in a few hours of undistracted work every day, away from social media, means that you’ll accomplish a lot more.
It’s easier to achieve that if you create a routine for your day. Just waking up and going to bed at the same time each day increases your energy levels and builds focus. Exercising regularly builds your discipline and resilience, while too much partying, TV, video games and social media will ruin your motivation.
The key is to work really hard while you’re young and have the energy. The short-term sacrifices you make then will help you reach your long-term goals, and you’ll soon be way ahead of everyone else.
Focus early on building your skills and your financial knowledge, because to get into the top 1 percent, you need to save and invest and recognise that eventually even the best employer will have to let you go. So work on a long-term plan to be self-employed, especially as nobody can afford to retire these days.
