A lot of people answering this struggle to understand what highly-specific means. I’m looking to, for the sake of experiment, highly-specific advice that gives a reader clear understanding of what they should do. Unlike the vague advice, on the contrary, that may be too abstract to get implementing it right away.
Inspired by this post but I wanted to change the question a bit to avoid the really vague answers as well as lower the age bar of target audience for the advice.
I’ll start with a bunch myself, to give a better example of what I’m talking about:
- Read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Ironically, because this is a post about specific advice, dude wrote a book with vague rules on how to do war, but the way it is worded is ridiculously good. If you take your time to think about the advice, you can find their appliances in the most unexpected fields.
I, for example, have improved my skill in videogames, out of all places, after reading the book. Sun Tzu said “If it is not advantageous, do not move”. Instead of rushing into combat, I now consider whether my position, current health, location of health packs etc. work to my advantage. Sun Tzu made me realise team-based PvP shooters give you room to avoid and disengage combat, you can make more impact for the team if you choose your battle and have everything work for your advantage.
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Exercises are not just about a lot of dedication, long commutes to the gym, expensive memberships and the fear of being judged by other gym members. 7 minute workout is a thing and it will give you all the benefits at your own home without the need for equipment, and it won’t take much time either.
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Buy an old used Kindle. For dirt cheap, you will get a device with a good e-ink screen that works without Internet connection, still has decent battery, is light and small. A new thing that makes reading so comfortable will trick you into reading more and books still happen a good medium for sharing information.
Save 15%. Even if it absolutely sucks to do so. If you have to dip in to the 15%, it better be for life or death. Skip meals to save that 15%.
1$ saved at 20 is like 20$ saved at 40.
Also, don’t cash advance from a credit card, ever, for any reason. I once bought a 6$ taco at age 18 on cash advance, and once I finally cleared it off, that taco had cost me almost 500$. I did the math.
If you make less than $20K, there’s no real way to save up. 15% of 0 is 0. But if you can afford some extras, definitely send an automatic 10% to 20% of your paycheck to your 401k plan or whatever. You will genuinely not notice it.
Use this calculator to see how saving for the future will benefit you:
https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/retirement-plan-calculator/
Starting at 22 saving 15% of 35K will get you $1.8 million by age 62.
Poop at work. Not only do you get paid to poop, you save money on toilet paper.
Explosive diarrhea during Zoom call.
“Hey man, we’ve got an earthquake, can I call you later?”
Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime
Go to party every day. Fuck everyone you can. Use all the drugs. You’re going to miss this time when your body could take it all without problems.
Fuck everyone you can
…with a caveat:
Don’t stick it in crazy.
Nah, that crazy is going to be great memories for when alone and without wifi.
Great, terrifying memories
No, not great memories. Crazy will ruin your life and it won’t be fond memories it will be horrible memories.
Use protection!
Yes, exactly! Wear a seatbelt!
And sunscreen!
Edit: sunscreen even if you have dark skin. Moisturizer of some kind regardless
Solid advice
Your 30s will be better. Don’t get hung up on thinking your 20s are prime.
If you start college (assuming you’re an American) do not under any circumstances drop out. This goes double for grad school. What will happen is the at you’ll still owe money on your student loan, but will not have whatever advantages you might have accumulated as a result of having a degree.
Install GnuCash, learn accounting, and start tracking your money and use proper financial language. There is a lot of good financial advice out there (budgeting, investments, debt reduction), and all of that is much more efficient if a) you know where your money goes and where it comes from, b) you are proficient with financial software, and c) you can talk to the banks in their own language.
Dude, finally someone gave a highly specific advice that I was asking for. I love you. Other replies are decently specific at best, with some being vague, despite my efforts to explain that this was not that I asked for.
Can all the young people not smoke cigarettes please. It’s the one thing I regret in life.
There’s obvious reasons like health and money, but there are specifics that you don’t want, such as -
Emphysema. You don’t want that.
Receded gums. It’s not funny.
And you smell. Really bad.
Smoking kills, obviously. But it’s the things it can do to you while you’re still alive that are really horrible.
Mimimize social media usage.
Start a pension fund.
Study. Get a higher education or professional qualifications.
Exercise regularly.
Take care of your dental hygiene. It’s costly to fix.
Find a companion to share your life. Human or animal. Having to make compromises because you have someone depending on you is great.Don’t be a selfish prick. Show compassion and caring to your near and dear.
You have time on your side. You can afford to make a few mistakes.
And wear sunscreen (can’t believe that song is >25 years old now)
Don’t repeatedly subject yourself to very loud music. Tinnitus is a removed.
Stay off TikTok.
The gals at the strip club don’t actually care about you.
Floss, brush your teeth daily and see a dentist at least once a year, eat less sugar and cut out soft drinks. Nothing worse than in losing or nearly losing one or two teeth in your 30s or 40s. Even without cavities, if you don’t take care of your gums, you can lose perfectly healthy teeth because the gums were eroded away.
Do some weight training and keep up an exercise routine … you can easily build muscle tone over the next ten years, after that you have to work a whole lot more to gain the same amount of muscle tone.
Eat less and eat healthy … learn to eat better and just eat less but better food … the sooner you learn this, the longer you’ll keep the habit and the longer the habit in your life, the longer you’ll live and the longer you’ll live healthier. What’s the sense of living to 80 when you end up sick and unhealthy for the last 20 years of your life?
Read, read, read … read the classics, read history, and read as much and as often as you can to fill out your knowledge and awareness of as much as possible.
Do all this now because you will never gain the time to do it all later.
Never assume that you can do things when you’re 30 when you’re 40 or when you retire because those times will either never come or when those times come, you won’t have the time or you will have so many other priorities that you won’t do these things anyway.
So do all these things now while you can because later may not arrive or when it does, it won’t be like you imagined it would be.
Thanks Baz Luhrmann
Sadly I already got a cavity at 15.
I don’t know whether to blame myself for that or parents. I even asked for toothbrush several times, but never got. I wanted to go to the dentist as I wasn’t there for years, but one of my parents would have to make the appointment, so as I said, wasn’t there for years.At least I have a good dentist. Apparently she’s not allowed to do anything without parents permission until I am 18 for some reason, but she’s helped me anyway.
learn HOW to drink.
drinking isn’t just about finding out how much it takes before you black out. AND FOR EVERYONE ELSE’S SAKE, DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE. if you’re gonna drink, arrange transportation, or stay where you are.
also, read the Hagakure. there’s some good stuff in there.
Start a pension, now.
By the time you retire they’re going to be even more valuable than they are today.
And thanks to the way they work, starting early with a small amount has a bigger impact than putting loads in when you’re earning more later.
