Your 20s can be a rough decade for you, well, most people had a rough 20s. This is the time where young adults are figuring out the blueprint of their lives. You would experience uncertainty, heartaches, successes and failures. These will be part of the process and almost all of us will go through these experiences.
What are the things you should anticipate so that you can survive the 20s decade and be prepared to face the challenges this decade has to offer?
Here are 5 important lessons young professionals should know in their 20s:
1. Start To Take Good Care Of Yourself
Most young professionals neglect their health as they become too busy working and creating their career path. They found no time to cook their own meals and choose to buy their meals in fast-food chains instead. Some also tend to unwind and distress by going to bars and having some drinks with their friends and colleagues. This lifestyle will only damage your health and will contribute to your future illness. Start building a healthy lifestyle foundation at this stage of your life. Exercising and eating healthy is not only good for your body, but it will also make your outlook on life more positive.
2. Do Not Compare Your Success to Others
According to Theodore Roosevelt, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Someone’s success doesn’t determine your failure and their failure doesn’t determine your success. You should work hard not to be ahead of others, but because you are eager to push yourself to your limits. When you compare yourself to others, you only make yourself feel miserable, frustrated and discouraged. This is a recipe for disaster and will not make any contribution to your success.
3. Stop Worrying—Start Living
We worry a lot about our future. We tend to deal with the complexity of uncertainty in our career path. The thing is, you cannot predict your future. You cannot predict what will happen to your career, to your relationship, and to your family. This will just make you worry even more. Focus on the present, on what you can do today and what your life has to offer right now. Forget the future and focus on today.
4. Start Saving Money Early
You should practice good financial habits in your 20s to prepare your financial security in the future. At this stage of your life you could be establishing your career, getting married and planning to start a family. This just makes saving more important to start now. Aside from these reasons, there are some saving goals that you should reach in your 20s:
Emergency Fund. This savings is solely reserved for unexpected and unavoidable expenses. This fund will help you not go into debt. For example, you can use your emergency fund to pay unexpected medical expenses that is not covered by your medical aid, getting laid off, house repair, and so on.
You can start with a small emergency fund, even if it’s just $1,000. Then build your emergency fund that can cover 1 month of your expenses, and increase your emergency savings fund as your income increases.
Retirement fund. You may think it is too early to think about saving for your retirement. The more you save when you are still young, the more your compound interest will grow and the more you will enjoy your retirement.
Track your finance religiously. This includes your income, expenses, and savings. You need to track how much you earn and where your money is going to. This will help you be more organized on your finances and let you know what adjustments you need to make in order for you to save money and live the lifestyle that is appropriate on your income.
Stop living paycheck to paycheck. Do not spend all of your earnings before you receive your next income. This will only cause you stress as you always scramble to make ends meet and you feel that you don’t have enough money to pay your bills. Learn how to set your budget, cut back on your spending, get out of debt, and most importantly, you need to save money.
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5. Spend time with your family and loved ones
Most young professionals are too preoccupied with their job as they want to build their careers and prepare for their future. They spent most of their time away from home and away from their family and their loved ones. They become busy running their lives that they take for granted the time they should be spending time with the people that act as their support system. For example, your parents and grandparents are aging; you won’t regret the effort that you will make showing your appreciation by spending more quality time with them.
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