Special shoutout to my sister for giving me the idea for this post.  Do you ever think back to what you were doing exactly 10 years ago?  If you could go back and give yourself advice about life, what would you tell your younger self?  Here is a list of 10 things I would tell my early 20s self about life:

1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

Fail at things, and fail hard.  The harder you fall, the more valuable lesson you learn.  The more mistakes you make, the more you will learn about yourself.  Don’t let one mistake derail you from your goal(s) and dreams.  The only true failure is not learning from your mistake.  Making mistakes makes you human, with a story to tell.  A setback is never a bad experience, just another one of life’s lessons.

2. Take more chances in your life

You miss every shot you don’t take.  If you don’t ask for what you want, the answer is always no.  Ask for what you want and deserve.  Talk to the cute girl you think you have no shot at.  What’s the worst that can happen?

3. Don’t try to control everything in your life

There are only a few things in your life you can truly control.  Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react.  Put your energy in what you can control; your emotions (what you think is what you become), your health (what you eat and your activity level) and your attitude (the 2 most important words  – ‘please’ and ‘thank you’). People are going to screw you over, it’s inevitable.  Just remember, how people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.  Let things go and move on.

4. Get out of your comfort zone

Do something you never thought you would do.  There’s no substitute for experience so get out there and put yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable.  Travel alone, have dinner by yourself, go to a party on your own.

5. Be more patient and just enjoy the moment

With your friends, with your family, with your significant other.  Anything worth having is worth waiting for.  Don’t worry, wonder or doubt about things in your future, just have faith that things will work out.

6. Enjoy your ability to recover physically

Have fun being able to recover from the long, late nights out.  Don’t take being able to recover from a workout for granted.  Start stretching now and watch what you put in your mouth.  The earlier you start taking care of yourself, the better.

7. Get out and discover the world

Travel as far and often as your money will take you.  When you’re in a foreign country, just be completely present.  Don’t compare it to what you know in the states.  Learn about the culture, the food, the people.  It will expand your horizons.

8. Don’t compare your life to your friends/others

Your friends are going to make more money than you, get promoted faster than you.  Be happy for them, celebrate with them but don’t let it bring down your accomplishments, big or small.  You are uniquely you for a reason.

9. Read more, less TV

You can’t get those 15 minutes of SSR (silent sustained reading) in school back so take a stand and make up for it now.  Even a little reading a day goes a long way.  You don’t have to completely eliminate TV, but just limit it as much as possible.

10. Don’t worry about your resume, focus more on your happiness

You’ll meet great people and hopefully close friends at work but your best memories will be made outside of the office, not behind the computer screen.  Find what makes you happy/tick, and never let it go.

If you could predict what advice you would give yourself now 10 years from today, what would it be?  I think the one piece of advice I’d give to myself when I’m 40 and looking back at my early 30s would be to enjoy your alone/free time as much as possible.  Once you settle down with a wife/family, you will look back on your single days and wish you had enjoyed it more.  Here’s to living a life with no regrets…

QOTP: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” –Wayne Dyer