15 Mistakes You Make In Your 20s
Hello, Alux! Welcome back. Your 20s are a time of exploration, growth, and learning, right? And with that comes the expectation that you'll make some mistakes along the way. You are expected to make some of these mistakes, and here are 15 of them that you make in your 20s. Welcome to alux.com, the place where future billionaires come to get inspired.
Number one: Not investing in yourself as a person. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your 20s is not investing in yourself. This means not taking the time to develop your skills, pursue your passions, or invest in your own personal growth. Your twenties are a time of exploration; compared to the real world, you've got like zero responsibilities. Now is the perfect time to try as many things as possible and to build your character. The reason that people start having personal crises in their 30s is because they didn't bother to figure themselves out in their twenties. They don't know what they're capable of; they've got very little skills and no idea where they're going. Now, you're not supposed to figure all of that out in your 20s, but you are supposed to lay the groundwork for it. Your 30s should find you full of life experience, but if you spend all your time chilling and vibing, get ready for a world of chaos real soon.
Number two: Neglecting your health. Another mistake you're expected to make in your 20s is neglecting your health. Your 20s are a time when you may feel invincible. You could pull all-nighters like it's nothing; hangovers are a mere inconvenience, and your lower back doesn't hurt. The mistake you make is thinking you'll live like this forever. It's hard to imagine you'll ever feel old when you're in the prime of your health, but it will happen. You'll start getting tired after a flight of stairs; a nap in the middle of the day will start sounding like a great idea. You're not going to be able to afford losing too much sleep—the list goes on. It'll happen instantly; one day you're all fine and chipper, the next day you start making dad noises when you get up off the couch. If you want to avoid that, start paying more attention to your health. Get the minimum requirements done: a little bit of exercise, a bit of a decent diet. It'll make a world of difference. Have you ever seen a 30-year-old that looks like they play Bingo on a Friday night? Well, if you don't want that to be you, start paying attention to your health.
Number three: Living in a fantasy land. When you're in your 20s, you feel like the main character, right? You live in your own bubble, and you think you don't care about anything in the world besides what's immediately close to you. You build your own little fantasy land around yourself, where you are the ruler. But you can't be a kid forever, okay? You can't run away from responsibilities forever; sooner or later, they will come knocking on your door. Some people say that growing up is a trap and we should all stay kids forever—that's the fantasy land we're talking about. It sounds good, but it doesn't work. The good news is you get to still be a kid after you take care of your responsibilities.
Number four: Not taking risks. Another mistake you're kind of expected to make in your 20s is not taking risks. Your 20s are a time of exploration, and taking risks can help you discover new passions and opportunities. Risks are necessary for growth. Without taking risks, you'll remain in your comfort zone and miss out on opportunities for personal and professional growth. And like we said in the intro, your 20s are a time when you have like zero real-world responsibilities. It's the perfect time to learn something you may never use or start a business that will most likely fail. The older you grow, the smaller your risk window becomes. You won't be able to afford taking risks when you have a mortgage or a kid. You don't want to end up saying, "Well, I guess this is my life now" in your 30s.
Number five: Not networking. Contrary to popular belief, the squad isn't going to be there forever. You need to meet as many people as possible, and your 20s are the perfect time to do it. Those well past their 30s know how awkward it feels to meet someone new these days. The thing is, it's highly unlikely to make it all on your own. At some point, you need qualified people around you. You need people to open doors and to help you out. You need people to learn from and to help you grow. We know it's tempting to be anti-social and think like you don't need anybody, but you're only fooling yourself in your 20s. Especially, don't say no to social events unless it's something that feels off to you. And if you're really struggling with something that's preventing you from networking or getting a mentor, download the Alux app and subscribe. Between our daily sessions, wisdom stories, learning packs, collections—it's like getting the networking side of things but from your own home. Go to alux.com/app to get started today.
Number six: Not saving money. You're expected to be done with money in your 20s, especially if you've got no one around to teach you otherwise. Hence the importance of networking from the previous point. The most impactful thing you can do with your money in your twenties is to save a portion of it and park it in a safe investment. The reason it's so impactful is because you have huge amounts of time and you can leverage the hell out of compounding interest. Besides that, saving money, even if it's a little amount, will teach you financial discipline—something the vast majority of people are lacking. It's very tempting to spend everything you earn in a month because you're 20 and nothing matters. But if you manage to build some good financial habits early on, life will be 10x easier later on.
Number seven: Not traveling. Your 20s are a time of exploration, and traveling can help you gain new perspectives and experiences. Traveling can broaden your horizons and help you to become more open-minded and culturally aware. There's no better way to discover yourself and the world than to travel. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to backpack for six months in Southeast Asia to do so. City breaks, camping, going to concerts in different countries—everything that implies you physically going out of your comfort zone counts as traveling. When it comes to the Alux team, some of us love to travel, and surprisingly, others don't like it that much. But nevertheless, we all travel a lot, and we all learn from it.
Number eight: Not being assertive. Another mistake you're expected to make in your 20s is not being assertive. It's easy to feel intimidated by authority figures or more experienced colleagues, but standing up for yourself is crucial for your personal and professional growth. Being assertive can help you communicate your needs and goals effectively. By being assertive, you can set boundaries, negotiate for what you want, and gain the respect of others. So, in other words, speak for yourself, stand your ground, and build a backbone.
Number nine: Not embracing failure. When you're young, you're expected to fail. You don't have the training, the skills, or the experience. You're not supposed to have it all figured out; that's why this time is called the exploration years. It's a nicer way of saying the messing around years. You don't need the perfect job, the perfect internship, the perfect whatever. You can't possibly know what you want in life unless someone engraved it in your mind from a little age. Failure is expected, so embrace it and learn from it.
Number ten: Not prioritizing self-care. Self-care is like the last thing on a 20-something's mind. You think you'll have enough time to care about that crap when you're older. You live with your traumas through brute force instead of compassion and understanding. You let it fester and eat you from the inside out, bit by bit, every day. Luckily, though, it seems like self-care is starting to be more of a common thing now than it was a couple of years ago, and people are a lot more open-minded to it, which is an amazing thing.
Number eleven: Not seeking help. Now, speaking of taking care of yourself, seeking help when it's needed is still kind of looked at as a sign of weakness. People in their 20s feel like they have something to prove and tend to do everything on their own, and when things don't work out as they hoped, they start to blame the system. What they fail to realize is that everyone had help along the way, and you're supposed to seek support. It doesn't make you less of a person to seek out the help you need.
Number twelve: Living only on social media. This is something only the new generation has to deal with, and since it's something new generation-wise, it's all a mystery. We've yet to see a fully grown person who grew up from an early age with a smartphone in their hands, so we don't really know the impact it can have just yet. But a big mistake you can make here is not being mindful of the difference between reality and illusion. This generation coming up will be the first one who has to deal with deep fakes and virtual identity theft. It'll be interesting to see how this one evolves.
Number thirteen: Not trading with the future. We're getting more serious here toward the end. Even though your 20s are for exploration and risk-free trial and error, doing so with no end in sight is pointless. It all must amount to something bigger in the end. You are doing something now so your future you can thank you for it, whether that's discovering yourself, building a good financial foundation, or anything that builds you up as a person. This is a good North Star to have. You can ask yourself, "Will this experience make future me a more complete person?" If you ask yourself this question often, you'll find your twenties stop feeling so chaotic and out of purpose.
Number fourteen: Not setting good habits. What you do every day defines who you are as a person. Your twenties are the prime time to develop strong habits that will stay with you forever if left alone. So why not use this to your advantage? This is the perfect time to start developing small things you do on a constant basis and slowly build up a foundation. Research shows it takes around 66 days for a habit to become automatic. You can start with building financial discipline, like we talked about earlier, or regular exercise or reading a few pages per day—anything you hold valuable. The sooner you build up these good habits, the longer you have to reap the benefits.
And finally, number fifteen: Not enjoying the journey. The final mistake you're expected to make in your 20s is not enjoying the journey. Your 20s are a time of exploration, growth, and learning, and it's important to enjoy the process along the way. Life is a journey, not a destination. It sounds kind of corny, but it's totally true. Even if you do end up making these mistakes, your 20s are the best time to do it. You will still have enough time to build.
Now for a bonus: Tomorrow, we're doing a video on 15 mistakes you make in your 30s. If these mistakes are fine to get away with, the ones from tomorrow start to be a whole lot more problematic. Thank you for watching this video, Alux. If you found it valuable, consider subscribing to our channel and joining our awesome community. And if you're still hungry for more, we hand-picked this video for you to watch next, or head over to our website for more amazing content. See you tomorrow!