9 Things Highly Successful People Don’t Do in Their 20s

You always hear about the success, the awards, the fame, the wealth of the extraordinarily successful people who made it against all odds. But what you don’t hear is about the early days of those successful people. In their 20s, they do some things differently and also avoid a few things doing for years that has a dramatic impact on who they are today. In this article, we are looking only into those things that successful individuals avoid doing in their 20s. You will also be able to eliminate those things from your 20s to make sure your future is more glorious. With that said, here are the 9 things highly successful don’t do in their 20s that make them successful later in life.

1. They don’t let others choose their future for them

I think Steve Jobs (American business magnate) has done a really great job in explaining this point in his famous 2005 Stanford University commencement address. 

He said —

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma- which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

You’re at that age when everybody you know whether it be your family members, relatives, neighbors, elders, tend to throw their advice at you because they feel like they know the best. Sorry but honestly, if their advice was so good, they would probably be a lot more happier and successful than they probably are today.

Unfortunately, most people listen to those stupid pieces of advice and at the end of their life, they become just as unsuccessful as those people whose advice they listened to. Napoleon Hill (Author of Think and Grow Rich) said—

“The no. 1 reason people fail in life is that they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors”

Successful individuals don’t listen to anybody except their hearts. They have the courage to pursue what they truly love, what their gut is telling them to do. They dare to go against the current. Some people become shocked, some think they are crazy, and others laugh at them for even trying. But none of these can hold them back because they know one day their success will prove how incompetent others actually are.

2. They don’t think education is enough for a successful life

Have you ever heard someone saying “If I could go to school and get my degree, I would be successful” Or “If I could only get my master’s degree, I would be better off”? Most people think they can be successful and wealthy only if they can receive a college degree. But, it turns out that the majority of the degree holders end up living a mediocre life working for others from 9 to 5.

They are not happy with their lifestyle and some of them even find themselves stuck in a job that they don’t like in the first place. If you look at the most revered success stories in history… entrepreneurs, CEOs, actors, singers, athletes, authors, political leaders, fathers… these people are not remembered for their GPAs but for the impact, they have created in the world through their work.

In fact, according to research cited by Washington Post, about a quarter of the world’s richest businesspeople either never enrolled in university, or dropped out of university or high school. The approach of highly successful people towards education is slightly different. They find out what they are truly passionate about early in life and educate themselves on the necessary things they would require to get where they really want to go. Sometimes, they don’t find any relevance in traditional education because they can’t figure out how the education is going to help them materialize their dreams. 

Moreover, they find that there are also some life skills that are not taught in school but are extremely important to succeed in life. Like William Upski Wimsatt (Author) said —

“There were no sex classes. No friendship classes. No classes on how to navigate a bureaucracy, build an organization, raise money, create a database, buy a house, love a child, spot a scam, talk someone out of suicide, or figure out what was important to me. Not knowing how to do these things is what messes people up in life, not whether they know algebra or can analyze literature.”

As they find that the education they get in school is not adequate and sometimes irrelevant to their dreams, they decide to self-teach themselves. They teach themselves relevant skills for their passion, acquire essential life skills, and in this process, some of them drop out of college or get poor grades in their academics. But as they do what they truly love to do, they are able to make a big impact in that field and become great later in their life.

Like Steve Jobs (American business magnate) once said —

“And the only way to do great work is to love what you do”

After all, at the end of the day, it’s not the paper that gets you the rewards but the value you create in the marketplace.

3. They don’t hang out with losers

Jim Rohn (American entrepreneur) said it best —

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Most people don’t realize the impact their entourage has on them. If you hang out with sick people, guess what? It’s only a matter of time until you will also become sick. That’s true for life as well. If you surround yourself with losers, you will end up becoming one. That’s why Orpah Winfrey (American host) advised —

“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher”

Highly successful people don’t associate themselves with losers, individuals who have no ambition, who do it all just for fun, who’re not supportive, who make them feel drained, who don’t take anything seriously. They leave them behind early in life and make friendships with those who are focused on growth, challenge each other for progress, and ultimately help them to reach their goals.

4. They don’t wait for opportunities

Many people often wait for opportunities. They wish for something or someone to show up in their life for long periods. But is it really worth it to wait for opportunities? The answer is no, it isn’t. First of all, no one should solely depend on luck. Luck can be a bonus but not a strategy. Secondly, even if people encounter opportunities, they are often missed by most people because they don’t realize they’ve encountered such. 

In fact, there will always be opportunities for those who recognize them and pursue them. These are the successful people who keep an open mind and work hard to create opportunities rather than waiting for them. Like Ann Landers (American columnist) said —

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.”

Successful individuals, in their 20s, take action, try out different things, meet different people, travel to different countries, keep trying to find what they truly love. They encounter lots of opportunities in this process and are able to recognize which one they should pursue in their life. They believe opportunities will not come until they create them.

5. They don’t think they know everything

You probably never know a successful person who thinks he/she knows everything. Highly successful people pretend they know nothing, acknowledge themselves they are empty, and always want to learn new things. In fact, Plato (Athenian philosopher), one of the wisest men of all time, once said —

“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing”

Your 20s should be spent exploring the unknown, learning new things, acquiring new skills that will benefit you in the long run. You should have the mentality of “knowing nothing” and the curiosity to know everything. Successful individuals are obsessed with self-development, they are open to new ideas, they try to grow them into their better selves through learning whether it’s by reading books, listening to audiobooks, attending seminars, reading articles. They never stop learning because they know that the more they learn, the more they will earn both financially and spiritually.

6. They don’t blame others for their setbacks

One of the quotes all successful people truly live by is —

“Stop the blame game. Stop! Stop looking out the window and look in the mirror!” — Eric Thomas (American motivational speaker)

Successful people take 100% responsibility for their life from the very beginning. Unlike the majority, when something goes wrong, they don’t play the victim role, they don’t blame others or the circumstances for the failure. “It didn’t happen for me, it’s their fault”, or “If they hadn’t done that, I would have made this”, isn’t what successful individuals say. Instead, they question themselves on how I can make this work and what I can learn from this.

They look in the mirror and acknowledge that it’s all their fault and take complete responsibility for the failure. They learn the lesson from their mistake, learn one more way not to do something, and quickly move on to fix the problem on their own no matter what it takes to make it happen, they will do that in order to make sure that they get rid of the bad situation.

7. They don’t fear to take risks

Another attribute of all successful people is they don’t scare to take risks. Sometimes you need to take risks in order to get where you need to go. Most people won’t take these risks for fear of failure. However, for successful people, the biggest risk is not taking any risk. They strongly feel that they are capable of achieving more, they deserve to get more out of life and this dissatisfaction with being able to achieve more is what makes them take risks.

They believe —

“There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” 

-Nelson Mandela (Former President of South Africa)

Your 20s is the best time to take risks. Now, you don’t have kids, you have no obligation to your family. As you grow up, your obligation increases. When you have a family, you start taking risks not just for yourself but for your family as well. So, take risks now, do something bold in your life. Get out of your comfort zone because it’s time to materialize the life you always dreamt of.

8. They don’t waste time

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of" — Bruce Lee (American martial artist)

When you are in your 20s, you may feel like you have an entire life ahead of you. Although it’s true that you literally have a lot of time, this feeling may result in laziness and procrastinating things indefinitely. Some people find some weirdest ways to waste their time too. They binge-watch bad TV show that neither they enjoy nor they add any value to their life, they skim through social media for hours for no reason, they play video games beyond the point of entertainment.

On the other hand, successful individuals leverage this time to get ahead. Instead of wasting their time on useless things, they productively spend their days working for their goals. They spend this time reading books, taking courses, attending seminars, acquiring new skills that will help them in the long run.

9. They don’t expect success to be quick and easy

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.” Robert Collier (American author)

Many people expect success to be quick and easy. They try hard for a while and after facing a few setbacks, they decide to quit. It’s that easy to be impatient in your 20s. But successful people are in it to win. They understand success doesn’t happen overnight, it may take years. Truly good things need constant effort for prolonged periods. In this course of time, they suffer numerous setbacks and go through deep frustration. Sometimes, even their dear ones don’t support them.

Many of them lose everything. But they never quit. They push themselves through the hardships knowing their greatest character is formed in adversity, knowing they get one more step closer to success every time they fail and knowing one day they will have also a comeback story.

Finally,

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