Twenties… What a wonderful time… A period for trial and error.
In your twenties, don’t worry about where you are heading as much as what you are learning. Learning is the most important thing to achieve during this luxurious time of self exploration. Make sure you learn from the best during this period.
Train yourself to be tough, to have discipline, to have precision… Push through mental barriers, learn to control your emotions, persevere through difficulties… Train to be razor sharp, have good attention to detail and have high standards.
Some of us will have the good fortune, courage and opportunity to build something at this young tender age, while most of us will be paid to learn by working for others… That’s right… When you are working in your 20s, you are essentially being paid to learn and make mistakes.
Now isn’t that a new way of looking at your jobs? Some of us get so caught up in what it is the jobs can give them in that time in terms of promotion, money and status that they forget that they are really being paid and given the opportunity to make mistakes at the expense of someone else’s hard built brand and business… Especially in this era filled with young and know-it-all individuals that feel somewhat entitled to a high paying job when they first graduate from big institutional educational establishments…
It is not really time to demand from your employers money, power, position… You are given the opportunity to be paid while learning… Whatever your contribution may be probably does not suffice the energy, time and money used by your employer to train you and tolerate your mistakes and experiments.
Recently, I had a young intern who wrote to me and asked me if I thought the salary that he is getting is market rate and fair. I threw back the question, “What do you think you and your work is worth? And how do you quantify this? Your degree? Your straight A’s? How sure can you be that you will be worth that much given you have had barely any real life experience in the workplace?”
You are untested and unproven a product in your twenties, so be humble and watch, observe, learn… Whoever is willing to take a chance on you, make the best of the opportunity… Learn as much as you can, work as hard as you can.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, nor should you be afraid of trying something new and don’t let anything hold you back from experiencing all that life throws you… If there is any time in your life where you are most nimble to manoeuvre through obstacles, bounce back from failures, re-invent yourself and suffer through hardships, this is it! So go out there and let life throw you into deep-ends and learn to swim as fast as you can through the many different tides 🙂
Til Next Time, Dee Dream