What Was Great And The Lessons I Learned In My 20s

This post is inspired by a recent acquaintance from a financial blog I’ve been reading, Financial Samurai. Sam is the website owner and he is intelligent and knowledgeable about finance. I recently commented on his blog and told him I spent a large part of my 20′s (I am 32 right now writing this) wasting money and time. He said to look back on those years to see the good there was.

This has prompted me to take a look back on life. I ask those of you reading to do the same. You may be younger than me or even older. Do you look on your past years with regret and shaking your head? Maybe this article will help give you a different perspective on that.

What I Look Back With Disdain On In My 20′s

• Low self esteem, even while married to a wonderful woman.
• Lack of financial savings. I had no clue what to do with money.
• No time spent learning and growing.
• Not paying proper attention to my wife.
• Going to a startup company that completely failed.
• Abandoning a website that I should not have (in 2004 – the computer games one below).
• And perhaps many more…

What can you think of right now that you don’t like when you look back on your life? Keep this in your mind, I want to hear about it below.

After Much Thought, What I Liked About My 20′s

• I completed a two year service mission in Ireland.
• I completed a four year Information Technology degree at a college.
• I married my lovely wife, Heidi.
• While in college, I was a teacher’s assistant and was able to help many students with their questions/problems.
• Completely solo, I worked for an internet company doing development, database management, customer support – everything.
• I programmed an e-commerce website that sold computer games, connected with a drop shipper and built a relationship, and hooked it up to a merchant account, and got it making sales in just a few months! (in 2004)
• I upgraded my job every year after 25 with an increase in salary. I increased my technical skills greatly.
• I went on a cruise with my wife to the Carribean.
• In my very late 20′s, I started to shift my self esteem to have high worth for myself.
• Many more good things, probably.

Our Focus Is Where We Go

There’s always going to be blunders in the past. Hey, we’re human right? We screw up – and often we don’t know the valuable lesson to be learned from that screw up that later provides opportunity. Because I worked for a startup that bombed, several of my own (and wife’s) websites were created, with minor success, and the completion of an over 300 page fiction/fantasy novel that I am in the final phases of editing. That’s no small feat, I’d never written more than 20 pages total until the startup debacle!

The point is, with some insight and thought, we can look back with fondness in the past and use that focus to grow. Thanks to Sam, the Financial Samurai for helping me take a page out of what this website offers, and that is the ability to inspire. I really love my years in the 20′s. I was such a young person, but grew tremendously. And I still have much to learn, however, I am on the right path. And this makes me happy!

What mistakes in your past have turned out to be blessings? Reflect for a moment and perhaps you will find the same fondness of your past that I did. Or you are already fond of your past and can just share the things you are proud of. Either way, thanks for listening and may your days be filled with success and growth.