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Waking up to your mid-twenties

I must say that in the past few years things haven’t gone to plan. I know what it feels like to work in a personal hell. I am sure that other people out there in their twenties understand where I am coming from. You see our parents cannot understand why we just are not happy with the state of our lives. Here’s the thing, maybe you graduated with a degree in Business and now find yourself working at MacDonalds or maybe you never graduated because you thought it was a waste of time or maybe you are back in school working a job that you for lack of a better word “hate”. The point is this, you are not alone. Your parents will not understand because their world was a lot different when they were growing up.

• They didn’t have computers
• They didn’t have Job Boards to apply for work
• They Followed the standard Go to school and graduate with a good job, get married and have kids routine because that was it… it is what success looked like
• They just did it

You on the other hand…

• Most of you were given every chance to succeed that your parents didn’t have
• You don’t have a sense of urgency about your life… well my friend its your life
• You’ve seen some of the most influential people proper without formal education
• You may be disillusioned about your future because there is too much choice

But here are some of the similarities you and your parents both share….

• You want to be successful, productive and define your own happiness

This is coming from a guy in his mid-twenties waking up to the fact that he needs to take action in his life for the things that he wants. No second guesses, no second tries it is do or die my friends and its time. I, much like everyone else is on their own journey with its own obstacles and rewards. The first step in beginning to get yourself to a point where you simply start taking steps forward instead of backwards or sidestepping issues that come up. You have to get “hungry” for the things that you want whether its that dream accounting job (stop laughing) or building a business… these things take time, self discipline and passion. Remember easy does not factor into adult living but you can have the things you want. I am picking up a few books to help me and whether or not you find them helpful, at least have a look at them.

Stephen Covey’s - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – I decided to get the audio book version of this but the paper one is just as good. If you are trying to figure out how to pick up the slack in your life then you may find Stephen’s books a help. You will never know unless and until you try.

My Reality Check Bounced!: the Twentysomething’s Guide to Cashing in on Your Real-World Dreams by Jason Ryan Dorsey – I decided to read the sample chapter from this guy’s website and I must say that convincing enough to make me feel as though I wanted to read it. Jason learned from the school of hard knocks which i believe is sometimes the best school to attend depending on who you are and what you want out of life. I wouldn’t suggest it to someone who wants to be a doctor or a lawyer but if you want to run a business fewer things will teach you more then when you finally get out there and do it. Not saying that you shouldn’t educate yourself either though in a formal institution

And Last but not least…

Living the 80/20 Way by Richard Koch – This is a book I’ve long put off reading so I am taking the opportunity to finally sit down and read it. You never know what you might learn. I’ve preached about the 80/20 concept as it applies to business and people in general but i am interested to see what else this book has to offer in the way of additional thoughts on sticking with your best 20%. Afterall few people are great at everything but lots of people are great at a few things.

You may ask what spurred this on and to be honest it was a conversation that I had this past week where someone held a mirror up to me and I didn’t like what I saw. Perhaps this is you or perhaps it isn’t but the truth is that I am sure you can find a little of yourself somewhere in this article if you look hard enough. Maybe someone will hold a mirror up to you and what you have not been doing for yourself the past few months or years. Answers come in some strange forms but you have to take them all the same when they come. Good luck searching and finding your answers

Luc