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Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

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Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#71

Post by Fuzzwah »

I learned a bunch of "useless" skills; juggling, slack line, etc. I met a bunch of very interesting people, got fit, enjoyed the process of constantly improving, found out that I can actually be determined rather than the slacker I'd always seen myself as.

I'm in my early 40s now and I don't juggle or balance as often as I used to, but I still find time every now and then and enjoy dusting off the skills. These kinds of things can also surprise and impress people, or encourage others to give them a go, or best; get surprised when someone else also has the same skills. It's like an instant bond. That knowing nod shared when people understand the work that has gone into learning these stupid things.

So yeah.. my piece of advice is, while you're young and have more "spare time"; spend some of it on learning some weird physical skill.

Others have mentioned learning an instrument... and I've sort of regretted putting my time into learning physical "tricks" rather than say the guitar.. So maybe my advice is to do both :)

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#72

Post by wombatpm »

saaspirant wrote: post #69
wombatpm wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finally some real advice. Go out, meet people, fall in love. I had my first child at 30. Would have been a lot easier at 25

>Would have been a lot easier at 25 What do you mean?

Kids are hard and time is cruel. My oldest will remember his grandparents, my youngest will barely remember his grandmother as an old lady who couldn’t talk right. Where my wife bounced back from the first child, it was a lot harder seven years later with the second.

Just having the energy and stamina to keep up with your kids is hard, gets harder as your body slows down, and gets really hard when your parents get older and have their own health problems. My mother-in-law went from being able watch the kids when we needed to, to no longer being able to drive because of a stroke and needing to be taken to therapy three times a week.

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#74

Post by ehnto »

behnamoh wrote: post #27
buss wrote: post #12

Hire a trainer and learn how to weightlift. You may have been a nerd like me that thought weight lifters were wasting time on vanity, but as you age your body will betray you. You need to learn how to stay fit or you will end up with myriad health issues and end up unhappy. A trainer is essential for a new lifter. It is easy to hurt yourself, and you need to work on good form for years before it becomes second nature…

How about cardio activities? I think those contribute more to getting rid of unhealthy fat and cholesterol, but I may be wrong.

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question which is why it's helpful to sit down with a professional to get a plan together.

If I did cardio instead of weightlifting I would waste away. I do also ride bikes for fun so I do get some cardio.

For many, cardio is also boring as hell, and weightlifting is a better long term solution as you are more engaged and motivated.

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#75

Post by tommiegannert »

behnamoh wrote: post #27
buss wrote: post #12

Hire a trainer and learn how to weightlift. You may have been a nerd like me that thought weight lifters were wasting time on vanity, but as you age your body will betray you. You need to learn how to stay fit or you will end up with myriad health issues and end up unhappy. A trainer is essential for a new lifter. It is easy to hurt yourself, and you need to work on good form for years before it becomes second nature…

How about cardio activities? I think those contribute more to getting rid of unhealthy fat and cholesterol, but I may be wrong.

I was given The Barbell Prescription[1] by a friend for my 40th birthday.

It is pretty thorough in suggesting why weightlifting (or rather; resistance training) is more important than endurance/cardio. In summary: they train different muscle types, and the anaerobic types age worse than e.g. the heart, so it's better to focus on that. They do suggest that you complement it with some cardio exercise, but it's a side gig rather than focus.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34823846-the-barbell-...

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#76

Post by kasperni »

roughly wrote: post #14

Therapy - learn how you think, learn where your blind spots, implicit assumptions, and tendencies are. Learn this before you learn you need it. Exercise - helps you think better, helps you feel better, helps you emotionally. Find something you like doing - I do power lifting and yoga - and get in the habit of doing it daily. Explore - odds are your career isn’t really going to take off until your late 20s at the earl…

> I do power lifting and yoga

This is probably the last two kinds of sports I would combine. Especially if you are serious about any of them. You could really hurt your back down the line.

Generally powerlifters shouldn't do yoga [1]. Because in powerlifting you really want to stiffen your back so it can handle heavy weights. In yoga you are trying to "unstiffen" your spine so you can get into those flexible positions.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFoYpaHJXMo&t=740s

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#77

Post by tommiegannert »

dougmwne wrote: post #41
chuckdotis wrote: post #11

Don't be afraid to experiment, but "partying" should be kept to a minimum and only for socializing. Also, avoid debt as much as you realistically can. If you're taking out loans for school, don't be afraid to pick up a flexible part time job doing retail or waiting tables (this helped me keep my student loans much lower than they could have been). Source: personal experience

Warning: focusing on your retail job during school to reduce loans is a local optimization, not a global one. Minimum wage is low and a high salary can make very short work of loans. Study hard and work even harder on your internships. Career relevant experience is king. Debt is a tool and nothing to fear if you know how to use it. Many fortunes have been made with debt. Many lost as well. And the drugs, yeah that's…

> Debt is a tool and nothing to fear if you know how to use it.

The key is knowing that you're using a tool. It seems to me that many people just start borrowing, the same way they suddenly start being attracted to the opposite sex. "Oh, it's just a mortgage, and house prices go up." "It's just my second credit card, of course I can pay it off in three weeks."

Good debt is a conscious decision, made when there's a strategy, not as a default path. Overall, it seems prudent to ask people in general to not go into debt, so they are more willing to think it through. Rather than just going with the flow because the store clerk said "you can walk out of here with both the jewelry and a credit card with a $20k limit!"

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#78

Post by saaspirant »

wombatpm wrote: post #72
saaspirant wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Would have been a lot easier at 25 What do you mean?

Kids are hard and time is cruel. My oldest will remember his grandparents, my youngest will barely remember his grandmother as an old lady who couldn’t talk right. Where my wife bounced back from the first child, it was a lot harder seven years later with the second. Just having the energy and stamina to keep up with your kids is hard, gets harder as your body slows down, and gets really hard when your parents get ol…

Understood Thanks

Re: Ask HN: What is something important I should start doing in my 20s?

#79

Post by CodeGlitch »

wcarss wrote: post #26

Music and/or drawing. These are both long curve activities where the more you put in, the more you get out. For example, fooling around with a ukulele for a year or two really improved my guitar later (especially fingerpicking!) when I wanted to get more serious about it. Even though I'm still not very good, I'm not trying to be a rockstar or a professional musician, and I can do a lot of nice things with it. Now I'm…

I just restarted drawing at the age of 40 (used to do a lot when I was a kid). I'm using it to cope with anxiety.

I agree with what you are saying, it's essential to do non-screen stuff to remind ourselves we are still human.

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