The ideal time period for your career development should be after you graduate, while you are in your twenties. You are still vibrant, filled with positive energy, and you have a lot of time on your hands, to experiment, learn from your mistakes, and accumulate a certain dose of experience. Truth be told, people may not take you seriously while you are still young, but there are some things that one should definitely do before the age of thirty. This way, you can create a solid basis and gain the valuable insight necessary for the well-being of your future.
1. They learned how to handle their finances
Let’s tackle the obvious issue first. We all know that, in a majority of cases, success is measured in finances, or financial stability to be perfectly accurate. This is why our first jobs are important, even when our salary is a far cry from the one that we imagined, we need to make it suffice. It is how we learn to be responsible, and to use money for the items we need, not for the items we want. Spending money comes natural to us, and even if we are wealthy, becoming broke will be an issue if we spend more than we earn. The more we practice this control, the easier it will be for us to accumulate enough finances and make judicious investments in order to succeed.
2. They knew how to fail faster
A terrific way to save yourself a lot of money as well as troubles is to learn how to fail faster. We all know that failure is inevitable in life, and the only true failure is the one when you do not learn anything afterwards. However, knowing when you are about to botch an attempt at something and backing off sooner can be extremely important. You save your finances, and you spare yourself a lot of stress. If you are hell bent on succeeding and keep on pushing only to prove others wrong, you will only end up being defeated more miserably. Once again, there is no shame in failing, all you need to do is learn how to do it faster, which will ultimately lead you to success more quickly.
3. They started their own business
One thing you should do in your late twenties is to start taking charge and form your own line of work. Just like with finances that were mentioned above, this is a great opportunity to tackle more responsibilities. Additionally, you finally take on the mantel of authority, and see what it feels like when you have to make hard decisions. Being in charge of your own small company is an eye-opening experience, and trust me, you will have a lot more sympathy for those who were your boss at some point. We tend to complain, and call our superior insensitive, and give them bully-like attributes. Once you know what is required to get the job done right, you are going to see what kind of method it takes to obtain the desired results. Even if you end up losing in the end, you need to learn what you can salvage from the whole ordeal, and perhaps start over with newly found wisdom. And, as it was already mentioned, if your business is heading towards disaster, shut it down as soon as possible. Remember, learn to fail faster.
4. They challenged the authority
Becoming rebellious is our innate ability. We start to challenge authority during our puberty, and this challenge takes various forms. For example, we start listening to different types of music, sometimes out of sheer spite, just to annoy our parents. We drink alcohol or even start smoking cigarettes, although nowadays this has shifted to vaping. Even though we know these things are harmful, we do it anyway, simply to show they are not as harmful as we are told. We establish our own identities, by showing how we don’t blindly trust everything we are told. This is a good trait, you should question everything, especially if it sounds too convenient. When you are fully convicted that something is wrong, or that you simply know a better way to do it, stand up for the idea. It is one of the key ingredients for success, knowing to do something better than your competition, and taking charge. Throughout history, people who made groundbreaking discoveries, did so by questioning what was presented to them as universal truth. Nicolaus Copernicus made a very courageous move, when he challenged the thesis that earth is in the center of the universe, and had a theory which was contradictory to what church wanted people to believe. A great example how we shouldn’t allow our fear to prevent us from challenging a flawed leadership.
5. They organized properly
If there is one thing successful people have in common, it is a busy schedule. We’ve seen in movies mostly how people caught up in work usually have an assistant that keeps track of all of their appointments and responsibilities. Well, you may not have that many appointments, but still, there is a busy life ahead of you, and if you are to preserver, you will need to know how to organize properly. The very essence of good organization lies in knowing how to prioritize your aspects in life. The transitional period between a party animal and a mature adult is the hardest part. When you start putting all of the social gatherings on hold and begin to give your job a higher priority, is the moment when you are taking a serious step towards good organization. However, if you are unwilling to make such a sacrifice, then don’t expect to see positive results, any time soon.
6. They maintained important partnerships
It is good to be independent and show everyone how you can manage things on your own. After all, food, water and oxygen are the only necessities needed to sustain you in life. But, if you are to be successful, you need to think before you act, and be careful about what you say. As individuals, we tend to have differences in opinion and our disagreements take a form of fiery arguments. Due to these arguments, we are prone to excluding some people from our lives merely because our perspectives are incompatible. Unfortunately, that is a wrong approach, because you lose the opportunity to give someone respect regardless of your differences, and gain their respect in return. This kind of reaction can make the existing bond grow stronger and you can acquire valuable allies. When you have more people you can rely on, it is easier to deal with stressful situations. In order to maintain your partnerships, do not back off from doing someone a favour if it doesn’t cause you too much trouble. You can never be too sure whether you might need to ask for one yourself, learn to value your social bonds and connections, it is what prosperous people know how to do.
7. They relied on persistence
Accomplished individuals are no strangers to failure, but they are also experts on not giving up after suffering a defeat. When things go south, we get insecure, we start to doubt, we become afraid if anyone is ever going to take us seriously. Instead of dwelling on the idea how foolish we looked, we need to view our failure from all possible angles and get encouraged to try again. We need to do this over and over again until we pinpoint the most efficient methods. Bear in mind that even trying too hard is not always an efficient way – you need to be persistent at working around the problem as well. If there is something you do not know how to solve, do not take shots in the dark until you hit the target. Learn how to browse the web and find possible solutions for your problems. It may feel like doing what someone else tells you, but it’s not. The whole point of advancement is quickly learning what is proven to work so far, and keep trying to make those methods better.
8. They actively worked on their flaws
By the age of 30, we are more or less fully aware of what kind of person we are. We have a clear idea as to what exactly the people we know don’t like about us, but still agree to tolerate, since we do the same for them. Even though we have these unspoken agreements with our close ones, it is still not an excuse for not trying to improve as a person. We are bombarded with various motivational posters, saying “My flaws are who I am”, or “Be yourself no matter what” etc. however, it is obvious that you’ll need to let go of these mottos sooner or later. There is nothing wrong with accepting yourself, and being yourself, but if when doing so you are only hindering your own progression, then there is no logic in such approach. Work on your flaw, so that you can be proud of yourself.
9. They became calculated and resourceful
Basically, this means that you rely on a leap of faith only as a last resort – your future decisions need to heavily rely on thorough research and planning. We all know how the very paragons of success like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison etc. were sort of castaways, distinctively different from the lot, and some of them even ran away from school. However, if you choose to be different, or choose to skip school in order to feel closer to them, then you are not a very calculated individual. Mimicking someone who is smart and successful is not the same as being that person – truthfully you are only a wannabe. Calculated and resourceful individuals work with knowing their options, and they also make efforts in order to create additional options should a need for them ever arise. They do not spend money immediately, until they have looked at all the possible cheaper alternatives. Remember, the best methods are those which yield the most satisfying results with the least invested resources.
10. They figured out how to adapt
Doing what you love and earning for a living at the same time is an ideal life scenario. You are not bothered by your obligations too much, and you get to excel in your chosen field. Unfortunately, this is not always an option, and very often, the market is filled with your desired careers or, simply, what you can produce is not in demand. In other words, you can be quite skilful and talented at something, but without the ability to adapt, you will not be successful. Knowing how to adapt, does not imply that you abandon your governing passions, it only implies that you find what you learned from them and apply that knowledge somewhere else. For example, if you know psychology, you can use what you’ve learned from your studies and try to excel faster doing a job of a project manager. Or, if you are greatly acquainted with the law, you can use the knowledge in the writing department and make an interesting drama revolving around the trial. These are just examples, but the basic idea behind this adaptability is to find the way to fully utilize what you already know.
11. They asked for second opinion
Finally, the last thing crucial for a stable future is accepting the fact that you are not the most competent, skilful, or smartest person in the world. Regardless of how brilliant or how acknowledged you were in the past, always look for constructive feedback. After all, people won’t just throw their money at you, they expect some sort of service or product in return. Therefore, it is not important if you think the product is great, as much as it is important for your target audience to like it.
