5 offbeat things you should do in your 20s

Sunday August 30, 2015 , 4 min Read

Whenever I get free time, I sit down and think about the questions that never stop lingering in my mind.What am I doing right now? Why am I here in this world? Why can’t I do the things I actually want to do in my life?

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To tell you the truth, our 20s confront ephemeral challenges. Many a times, to overcome such challenges, our inspirations are stunted by the reality — the bruise of which cuts our dreams. But hold on right there. I need to remind you something. You have one life to lead and fewer years to make changes.

Why don’t you do things you are passionate about? It could be anything. It might be traveling, might be painting or might be the desire to create electric cars. You have all the right to pursue it. Feel free, fly all over the sky and feel life. Here are a few pointers to live your dream while you are in your 20s.

1. Look around yourself

Start with looking around yourself. Try to observe problems. Come out of your comfort zone. Everyone perceives same inputs by looking around themselves. We all watch. But we do not observe. But unless you actually observe, you’re closure with innovation is a far cry.

For example, you can see Sans Francisco and know that transportation is a nightmare there. But you just sit somewhere in your comfort zone and assume that someone will come and solve this problem. Travis Kalanick of Uber has created a simple and elegant solution to this problem, and now you look back and think, what did I do before this existed? There are so many different ways to come up with innovation if you just perceive the world differently. As Tony Gaskin puts it perfectly:

If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs.

2. Travel around the world

When you are in your 20s, you have no responsibility of family and children. You can travel even in your 30s, but you will have a lot of responsibilities to take care of. The motivation behind traveling can’t be same again.

Don’t just travel to famous places. Travel to learn. Travel to collect stories. Stories which can make someone smile. Travel to learn cultures across the world. Believe me, learning is everywhere. Discover yourself. Explore the things you want to achieve. Travel is the most efficient way to know yourself and your passion. To quote Steve Jobs,

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

3. Quit your boring corporate job

When you are in your early 20s, you shouldn’t care about how much money you are making. If you are working nine to five just to make money and there is no learning involved, quit today. Get out and find a good boss to work under and improve yourself if you can’t start something of your own right now.

Life is a long race. Don’t ruin it by riding on a short race horse.

4. Patience

Be patient. You cannot play hopscotch while building a dream. Any goal worth achieving is going to take a long time.

You cannot expect to reach a milestone in a minute. If you want to see you successful at a later stage of your life, learn the skill of being patient. Everybody has goals. We haven’t accomplished them yet. And we won’t accomplish them by tomorrow either. So, be patient and focus!

Nothing of value is formed in a minute.

5. Fail

Being in your 20s, you can fail thousands of times, your family and friends will always be there to support. Do whatever you want. This freedom will not retrace its steps back in your life. Fail at love. Fail at your startup. Fail in your engineering papers. Fail in relationships. But, don’t fear from taking risks.

Take a breath. Now think. What did you learn?Learn from your every failure and grow yourself daily.

Try to learn from every single experience of your life. But, never fail at the same point again and again.

About the author

Misbah Ashraf is the ex-Founder of Cibola and looks after growth at Spangle

( Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

20 Lessons From My 20’s