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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?

#111

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

I partied quite hard and I don't regret that. It can obviously be a bit hard on the body and you should avoid getting addicted to alcohol or other substances, but I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with it..

> you should avoid getting addicted to alcohol or other substances

This is basically what I'm referring to. I had a lot of fun partying and I think it was a great way to network and to mature socially, However, I admit that I did have a couple scary moments in that I almost died from doing too much, or I realized I was addicted and had to go through a period of withdrawals.

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

#112
Not comprehensive, but do this and you'll be light years ahead of everyone else your age (in order of importance).

Learn how money works, I don't mean how you buy stuff with it, but how money and debt actually work. If you get this squared away now you'll be better off than 80-90% of everyone else, it does taking a bit of a more pessimistic (realist) mindset. If you don't know where uncollectable financed debt goes or how financial instruments work to lower your monthly costs, or how your wages compare year over year in real purchasing power (i.e. whether you are making less the longer you stay at a job) then you don't know enough. Most people fall into a usury trap set by predatory banking institutions at some point.

Always risk manage big decisions and figure out what the ROI is for those decisions ahead of time. Do your research. Have a plan of action before you do something that locks you in for longer than a year. Don't trust the salesperson.

If a college degree you are interested in doesn't have a good ROI, don't major in it, or consider traveling internationally to a school where the ROI makes sense. You need to have your education paid off by the time you are 28-30 without outside help and promises of jobs at graduation are often fluff, consider the risks as well (are there hidden factors that might prevent graduation within a time period just as an example).

Learn how to negotiate, constantly determine whether they have credibility. If you are too agreeable you can't leverage the things you'll need later, and there is no basis for further negotiation when one party lacks credibility. Being able to walk away is valuable. Don't get caught in a circular logic trap, you decide what you want to do and no one else, you don't need to explain why because if they can't respect the decision then you have nothing to talk about because they've lost credibility.

Don't get taken advantage, your time is valuable, many people in their 20s discount their professional experience and subsequently get paid much less, or worked more; most places take advantage at some point unless you reasonably push back, as an example this can include sudden changes to shifts where they know you have prior commitments but they call and ask anyway (i.e. classes). Be wary of illusory promises as well and learn about the psychology and tactics you might face from these influencers. Understand Burnout and what you need to do to fix it.

Learn how to communicate effectively in writing at a professional level. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word choice all affect interactions. People will treat you differently based on how you present yourself (that includes appearance, odor, speech as well).

If you make a mistake, own it. Ask questions, improve, don't own/accept something that isn't your mistake.

Learn how to effectively learn and build the long term habits you'll need later, whether that's adjusting your diet or something else. (hint, don't give yourself the choice whether you follow through but have criteria/rules for exceptions and understand attention is finite, do what you need to structure the change accordingly).

Learn how to deal with liars and how to hold them accountable and don't lie. Almost all interactions moving forward will have some small lie where they can't easily be held accountable (Document details, memorialize, in writing, case-build, who you spoke to, when, what, etc) and fight for the rights have. If you are working to deal with an issue, realize what people can and can't do at various levels. Customer support, corporate, overseeing regulatory body, congressional representative that supports or oversees the area.

Build Discipline and other habits which make doing new things easier.

Be able to defend yourself, take Brazilian Jui Jitsu as a starter (this builds discipline), then some firearms training to understand how accurate guns are and how they work and are used.

Be able to survive, know how to start a fire that burns 8 hours without attention (putting a log on) and what you can and can't eat, how to prepare emergency food that doesn't need refrigeration, and what kind of preparations you need if the supply chain breaks down for necessities (shelter, water, food, safety).

Spend some time at the library reading up on historic events, everything happens in regular cycles, knowing and preparing to capitalize on certain events can ensure your safety and future prosperity. Also, most of the history you learned in high school if its US based is likely a biased narrative and useless, in many cases it may not even be all that accurate (i.e. Panama, West/East Berlin, Latin America 1950+).

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

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A trainer can be amazing but I wouldn’t call it necessary, especially for someone young. They can get expensive and the op would get a lot of value from starting weight lifting imperfectly now than potentially waiting years to be in the financial position to hire a coach. There’s so many fantastic resources online. Just stay away from Olympic style lifts and be careful with compound movements.

Definitely start with a trainer. They can enforce good technique and give you the basics of nutrition and mesocycle planning. I personally regret not starting with a trainer, as I'm now fixing issues that I reinforced because I didn't have the proper external feedback.

As an anecdotal counterpoint of the 10ish people that I knew that started lifting in their teens and early twenties not a single one had a trainer. Preventing injuries through proper form is the main benefit of a trainer and everyone stayed fairly injury free.

You don't need to hire someone to explain good nutrition, sleep, etc. Does it help? Absolutely. But necessary? No. There's so much amazing content on the internet. Especially when you see how little training the average personal trainer is required to undergo. Someone truly competent will run you close a $100 an hour.

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

#114
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.

Hah, for me drawing often _creates_ anxiety. Usually that happens when what I drew is not good as I'd expect, or not as good as things I've already drawn in the past. I also don't enjoy the early stages of doing the drawing (measurements, getting major proportions right). Maybe I just shouldn't draw :)

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

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, all this damn investing advice. Don't suffocate your youth with frugality. You will have decades to chase money and career and the money will come much easier later. Spend it, but aim it on improving yourself or opening new doors in your life, not on vanity. Invest in yourself now, the index funds can wait a few years.

It's not about frugality. Just getting in the habit of thinking about finances can help a lot. It's not like throwing a $100 (adjust for your location, habits, etc. it can be $10) into a fund every month will take a lot of time or is likely to displace some other activity in your life. You can review it once a year and add some piece of information each time - how to max your retirement fund, how to switch bills arou…

I agree with the sentiment, but this whole area is filled with a huge amount of misinformation, especially when it comes to what affects credit score.

I've known many people that believe constantly carrying a balance (percentage of max) on their credit cart improves their overall credit score which is a good thing, and that's wrong. It may improve credit utilization score but you are paying 30+% interest each month in fees which compounds against you.

Reviewing finances only once a year won't provide enough time to correct course if there are important changes in trends, it needs to be done monthly or quarterly.

I'd say the majority of investing advice out there is solid advice only some of the time often with circumstances that prove it to be bad advice some of the time.

If you don't understand the fundamentals (which aren't taught in school) then you are more likely to lose money than anything else and have had your time you spent earning that money wasted.

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

#117
There is so much good advice in this thread!

- Friends and family and community. This is actually more important than all other advice in this thread (I never say that kind of thing, but it's true here). They will be there for you when you can't be there for yourself. The HN community is giving good advice, and a community that knows you personally will give you even better advice. Modernity is hard on friendships and community so it takes some work to get started and maintain.

- Exercise. In your 20s, someone who lifts is just bigger. In your 30s and 40s, someone who lifts is actually fitter, and it diverges from there.

- Music. I have just started learning piano. "Where has this been all my life?" The skill compounds, and it's a huge help.

- Therapy, probably. Whatever issues you have won't just go away, and it's wonderful to have inner freedom. Quality is completely dependent on the relationship with that particular therapist.

- Meditation, if you can avoid the mainstream stuff.

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

#118
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crunches builds abdominal muscle but body weight is affected only by cardio.

Hate to be that guy, but that's wrong. Body weight is determined by calories in vs calories out. Eat less calories than you burn, body weight goes down, eat more, body weight goes up. Body composition is determined by exercise and diet. Lift weights and get enough protein, muscle mass increases. Run marathons and don't get enough protein, muscle mass decreases. In general, compound movements like squats, deadlifts, p…

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but what you are saying here is for the most part only correct for a very small subset of the population.

Your current weight is a functional aggregate of the surplus calories which consists of many factors that can't immediately be measured (yet). The "Calories in, Calories out" belief which is based on very sketchy evidence (i.e. try tracking down where that came from some time) breaks down for anyone suffering from chronic obesity.

Body Composition - (i.e. Body Fat percentage), is determined by exercise, diet, and overall health which may include factors like inflammation (allergies), liver function, vitamin levels, thyroid levels, whether they have been poisoned (lead, mercury) etc).

Most people have one or more of these issues and metabolism is dynamic. It can speed up or slow down based on gene expression which is often influenced in part by exercise but mostly food (diet).

The assumptions you make about exercising aren't necessarily true when you have a health factor and that may not be immediately determinable, or even diagnose-able in some cases. I've known quite a few people that were picture perfect health medically (according to tests) except for uncontrollable weight gain, and had to go through multiple strict elimination diets to identify the culprits.

Some people will simply gain weight regardless of the calorie count if they are sensitive to a type food (or additive like canola/soy oil). There are tons of additives in commercial food these day that aren't even necessarily listed.

As an example, commercial pork doesn't brown correctly when cooked compared to meat you spice and grind yourself and its not MSG. Pork you grind and cook yourself looks almost like the light brown of a breaded chicken steak, compare that with the dark browning you get from commercial pork breakfast sausage.

Body conditioning is important, but exercise plays a very small role compared to overall diet. I know people that have gone on 800-1000 calorie/day diets (medically supervised) for half a year and consistently maintained or even gained weight so the whole idea of calories in calories out is just ludicrous.

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

#119

As someone who just entered his 30s, here’s my list of things I’m glad to have done or wish I had done (sooner): Start investing. You don’t have to learn a ton about picking stocks — start by consistently putting money into a robo-advisor like Wealthfront or Betterment. This compounds; a small amount of money invested now will be more impactful than a large amount of money invested later. If your job offers a 401k, c…

> finish your side projects. It takes a lot of dedication, especially in the home stretch, but it’s much more satisfying to be able to point to one finished thing you made than a dozen abandoned works in progress.

This feels so true. Right now, and for the last few years, I've started so many projects only to not finish them. And as I don't have professional experience, I point to my projects on my resume. Sadly, most of the projects worth putting on aren't finished, and the ones I have finished are junk! It's been a slow, painful lesson.

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