How To Avoid The Big Screw-Ups: Advice To A 20-Year Old From People Twice His Age

1. If you can make a reasonable living doing what you love, DO WHAT YOU LOVE.. You may not get rich, but you’ll get to do what you love. Don’t quit your day job until doing what you love pays the bills, but don’t incur big debt getting a law degree or an MBA if you really want to be an artist.
2. It’s amazing how easy life is when you’re honest with yourself and others. This doesn’t mean you should be rude and inconsiderate, but it’s better to be upfront when you have to rather than concealing things and letting them grow.
3. Set up a safety fund. Yes, I know the savings account interest rates suck right now, but having 3-6 months of expenses in readily accessible cash can save you a lot of hassle. It also allows you to loan money to friends when needed (do this judiciously).
4. Start lifting weights yesterday.
5. Don’t get fat.
6. Stand up for yourself. People will do anything for their own personal gain at others‘ expense: Cut in line, take money/property, bully/belittle, guilt- trip… Do not accept this. These people know they’re doing the wrong thing and back down surprisingly quickly when confronted. In a public setting people tend to keep quiet until one person speaks up.
7. Staying in shape is dirt simple. Body fat is dictated by what you eat and your activity. Working out affects 2 things mainly: fat and muscle. Aerobic exercise burns fat and builds a little muscle. Resistance training builds muscle and burns a little fat. If you’re fat you’re eating too much and/or not doing aerobic exercise. Period.
8. There is no greater difference-maker in income than a college degree. I agree that it’s BS, but it’s true. It’s never too late to start. Just attending school looks good on interviews. And many companies offer tuition assistance so it doesn’t have to be that expensive.
9. The biggest disappointments in life are the result of misplaced expectation. Tempering unrealistic expectations of how great something will be can greatly reduce frustration.
10. Understand that at 22 you are at your most energetic and most creative, but your labor is valued very little. All the more reason to 1) stand up for yourself and look for the highest bidder and 2) get that degree.
11. Try to picture us old fucks as the teenagers we used to be. Talk to that person.
12. Stay limber. do lots of stretching every day. eat more vegetables. stay away from meth.
13. LIVE. Experience as many things as you can. Go places. Do things. Do not fall into routine. Do not become comfortable with TV and gadgets. Follow your dreams, and be smart to ensure your success. Take chances. Carpe diem. No one ever achieved anything great through laziness. Don’t let fear stop you from enjoying life.
14. Love is a choice… it’s not magical. You are not destined. There is no such thing as “the one.” Spend enough time with an attractive person, and biology kicks in. So use your head, and find someone you really enjoy spending time with. Cause you’re going to have to do almost everything with this person. The person who makes you feel most relaxed, most like yourself, and accepts you as you are. The person you don’t have to impress. This is your best chance for happiness.
15. If she’s got sexual hangups, and you like sex, find someone else immediately. Only a therapist can cure her.
16. Your credit score is really important. Don’t screw it up.
17. Everything in moderation. Don’t be a slave to any substance, especially food.
18. Don’t smoke cigarettes. If you do, join a program and quit immediately. It’s a total waste. If you want to smoke pot, don’t do it every day. (Harder than you might think.)
19. Don’t get fat.
20. Don’t ignore the obvious. Think with you head, not your heart. Take responsibility. The future is coming, whether you want it to or not.
21. The world is full of bad people who will hurt and control you. Stand up for yourself. Do not pity them. Beware charity cases.
22. Avoid negativity and negative people.
23. Always do what’s right.
24. don’t buy things.. buy EXPERIENCES.
25. That.. is a profound statement. I lived the experience thing at 40 I am doing pretty good for myself. I am uber happy as well incidentally.
26. The girl you love in your twenties (early twenties, at least) probably won’t be the girl you love in your thirties. Much in the same way that women undergo some sort of change between the ages of 18 and 22, guys will change- probably a little later than girls. Out of all my friends, I think they’re all divorced at least once by now.
27. If I could go back, I’d say that pretty much every white-collar job that paid well in 1990 won’t be a good job prospect in 2010. The US is drifting towards a service-based economy, and that’s that.
28. Save money, and start saving early. Not that it’ll help any, of course; the stock market is rigged against the individual investor; saving money with a bank will ensure you’ll get sharped there, too. In fact, you’ll get ripped off no matter what you try to do, and the dollar is probably going to crash long before you’re ready to retire anyway, so either make some highly educated investments in collectibles, or just try to limp by, staying out of debt and packing away what you can in your 401(k) and in the stock market. Not that either will be worth anything in 20-40 years, but who knows.
29. Read more. And not just blogs.
30. Little things that you want but don’t necessarily need cost money, and they add up. This is why nobody in my age bracket seems to have money anymore: that $30/month cell phone (or whatever it costs- I don’t own one), that cable TV, that 42” plasma TV, a new car every few years, etc. But, hell. See rule #3: that money you save this way may not be worth anything by the time the dollar crashes anyway.
31. Don’t stick your dick in crazy. Unless you want to. Might be fun for a while, but- shit, man. It’s crazy.
32. Help your fellow man- the whole “Today you, tomorrow me” thing. Know how to change a tire, jump a car, safely bust a car window when a kid is stuck inside, render first aid, etc. I spent several years as a volunteer firefighter/EMT, and when I started, I didn’t know shit about what to do in an emergency. I even have my extra class ham radio license, if communications go to complete and total shit. That way, I can ask what the weather is like in Santa Monica when Phoenix has been wiped off the map by the world’s first inland tsunami. Not sure how ham radio will help, but all my neighbors will think it’s cool- the ones not dead and stuff, anyway.
33. Those guys you went to high school with? They’ll all be fat and balding. Little tip: it’s the sugar and carbohydrates that make you fat, the soda, the pizza crust, the cake and cookies and candy that everyone else at the office brings in as treats. If you skip those, you might dodge a bullet- and an expanding waistline. Drink ice water.
34. Dream.
35. Learn to ignore some people. Arguments on the Internet are like the proverbial winning at the Special Olympics.
36. Put things in context. 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs died out. We’re still arguing over how T. Rex walked (or ran), much less whether they had a blog. Do things that matter, because time runs out.
37. Be polite, be courteous, and at least dream that civilization can be civil. A society is the sum of its parts.

What number is your favourite?