What would you tell your younger self?
Recently I had the privilege to share my startup journey with 300+ student leaders in secondary school aged around 15-16 on 27 Oct.
On the last segment of the panel, we are asked: what do you wish you could tell your younger you?
I shared about 3 points:
- Eat well and take care of yourself
Don’t find yourself hurting your own mental health by starving your body from rest.
I wouldnt advocate work life balance for the sake of it. Rather, i say rest because you want to play and win the long game.
The rule of any long game is simple: stay alive.
In the working world, more often than not, you don’t need to win anything for anyone, only to be better than the yesterday’s you.
Within a year, say you wish you go for a performance, being 1% better than the yesterday you, you will find yourself at least 36x better.
You are definitely going to be a productive and promotion ready individual when you are self calibrating yourself against your performance yard stick.
- Read read and read
The more you learn, the more you find yourself knowing so little.
If ever you find yourself thinking you have understood enough, its probably a good sign that you are in your own bubble; and its time to read and learn new things.
You are shaped by your worldview, and your worldview limited by your knowledge. It is only productive for you to gather as much knowledge so you can form a worldview that accurately reflects the world you are in.
- Make friends
You do not want to make friends for any favors, but when you put effort to keep friends, it is easier to ask for favors when the time comes.
Finding your world surrounded by friends whom celebrates your wins with you, makes the win sweeter, and the loss more bearable.
Your work life journey is not meant to be traveled alone.
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What do your younger self know then in which you could do differently?
