Entrepreneur, Author, Content Creator with 9M+ followers across platforms. I share this newsletter every Friday around personal growth, books, quotes, pictures - it is the most personal version of me online.
I wish I was told this when I was young
warikoo Wanderings
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15 THINGS I WISH I WAS TOLD, WHEN I WAS IN MY 20s
1.
Your grades in college are not going to define your life.
The first company you work for is not going to define your life.
Your first pay package is not going to define your life.
2.
Who and why you decide to spend your life with - is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your life.
Don't take it lightly.
3.
Don't go to college just looking for a job, a title, a company, a function, a role, a salary.
Go to college also looking for yourself.
"What am I good at?"
"What makes me happy?"
4.
This decade you will either drift away from your family or remain in their shadows forever.
But you will not get a lot of time to rectify your decision later on.
5.
If your school friends keep dragging you down and pulling you back and make you feel bad about "growing too fast", quit them!
Don't feel guilty for not wanting them in your life.
6.
No one expects you to be rich during this decade. So don't act like you are rich.
Live like a pauper.
Invest as much as you can, while still fulfilling your needs and desires.
Avoid loans.
Don't buy a house.
Don't buy things that you think will make people like you more.
Those people are not worth pleasing!
7.
This decade will be when you will be judged the most.
Your college.
Your job.
Your car, your phone, your clothes, your choices.
Remember that people judge because they want to feel good about themselves.
It has nothing to do with you.
It is their insecurity.
8.
Who you spend time with, will define the stories you hear.
The stories you hear will define the stories in your head.
The stories in your head will define you.
Choose who you spend time with, wisely!
9.
You are not the only one confused.
You are not the only one unsure.
You are not the only one struggling.
You are not dumb, inadequate, incapable.
Everyone is struggling. Everyone is figuring it out.
Don't be harsh on yourself.
10.
While you are building your skills, the most important thing to build is your reputation.
Your goal is to make people say: "I am not sure if she knows how to do it. But I am certain if told to do it, she will definitely figure it out. I trust her."
11.
When you say you have 5 years of experience, is it 5 years of experience or 1 year of experience done 5 times over?
Don't ever get comfortable in your job.
12.
That thing you imagine to be the worst thing ever?
When it happens, it will feel like the worst thing ever.
You will get up everyday and it will be the first thing you will think of.
Until one day, when it won't be!
Everything you feel today, will fade away.
The worst thing you imagine, isn't the worst thing.
13.
Every time you are tempted to follow someone else's path, stop and ask yourself
"Is this MY definition of success? Or theirs?"
14.
Optimize for your learning, not your salary.
Optimize for progress, not for stability.
Optimize for facing fears, not for comfort.
15.
Don't place the burden on one person to be your mentor.
Don't think of mentors as only those that are much older and experienced.
Pick multiple mentors for different aspects of your life.
Pick mentors who see the world differently and ask you questions.
It baffles me how much of an individual's life gets shaped up in their 20s and how little guidance there is around, on how to navigate through this decade.
Some lucky ones go through it well. Most struggle.
And I often wonder why does that have to be the case.
I think there are 2 reasons:
1. We do not listen to those who have had a tough or not so successful life, because in our head, "if they didn't follow their own advice, why should we"?
Well, those are EXACTLY the ones we should be listening to.
2. People who did make mistakes and learnt their lessons, do not share because in their head, "if we couldn't make it in life, what right do we have teaching others?"
Well, those are EXACTLY the ones who should be sharing.
Those in your 20s
Look around you.
People are full of regret.
Understand what led to that regret.
That will tell you what not to do.
Those beyond their 20s
Look at you.
You are full of regret.
You know what led to that regret.
Tell others about it, so that they know what not to do.
Do not choose the person you learn from. Choose what you learn from them.
BOOK I AM READING THIS WEEK
I have started reading a super interesting book:
The Network State: How To Start a New Country
This book by Balaji Srinivasan lists down quite methodically and objectively the steps to start a new country in today's world.
The basic premise is "Cloud first; land later" - which essentially means the countries of tomorrow will first start online (cloud first), grow to a size and structure and organizational dynamics that will make them look and feel like a country and then eventually may make the move to a physical unit (land later).
It is gripping, it is nerdy, it is highly dependent on blockchain. I am loving it.
Don't be surprised if you end up seeing a warikoo country one day in the future haha :))
In other news, the manuscript of my second book was finished this week (yay). We aim to release it December 2022. Any guesses for the title of the book?
My book DO EPIC SHIT is now available in Hindi, Marathi and Tamil.
Of course, also in English :)
180,000+ copies sold.
3 more languages coming up! (Including Portuguese)
QUOTES TO SHARE
If you can't laugh at yourself, you will cry when others do so!
(Share on Twitter)
Procrastination happens because we don't realize how little time we really have.
(Share on Twitter)
Success is having control over your time.
(Share on Twitter)
RESPONSES TO LAST WEEK'S QUESTION
Last week I asked you:
How many hours do you spend on your phone every day?
- Less than 2 hours
- 2-4 hours
- 4-6 hours
- 6+ hours
- Do not have a phone
Here are the responses:
Observations:
- Almost everyone has a phone!
- 18-22 year old's, who are not yet working, are the ones consuming their phone the most!
- 20s is basically when the phone usage spikes, then begins to decline again.
- I am also certain that most people do not even know for sure how many hours they spend on their phone. This is all a guess. Actual number will be much higher :))
My response?
Between 2-4 hours everyday, more on the 4hr side. Most of it is Gmail, Calendar, WhatsApp and Twitter.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
We concluded the 2nd batch of our course "How To YouTube" which trains content creators on how to win over YouTube.
To celebrate that, the entire team that pulled the course off spent 2 days together. This was clicked as part of the gathering.
Sitting (L to R): Supriya (Course Instructor), Naomi (Teaching Assistant), Surabhi (Course Operations), Rishabh (Curriculum Design), Naman (Community Manager)
2nd Row (L to R): Neha (Teaching Assistant), Shruti (Teaching Assistant), Gitanjali (Course Director), Shaurya (Course Instructor), Aditya (Course Instructor), Shivam (Course Instructor), Laavanya (Visual Design)
3rd Row (L to R): Ankur (random uncle photo bombing), Anurag (Tech Operations)
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
What do you use YouTube for, mostly?
- Listening to songs
- Information (news, how to videos, etc.)
- Education (courses, tutorials, etc.)
- Entertainment (movies/streaming/comedy, etc.)
- Health/Food/Beauty/Wellness
- Religion/Spirituality
- Don't watch YouTube
Click here to let me know your answer (anonymously)
CONTENT I SHARED THIS WEEK
Podcast:
Title of episode: How I spend my day
Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, JioSaavn, Gaana or YouTube.
YouTube:
I wish I knew this in my first job
You can watch it here.
Instagram:
STOP saying these things
You can watch it here.
Twitter:
3 simple steps to manage your anger
You can read it here.
You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.
I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.
(baarish mein naachte mor ki kasam)
You can share this newsletter on WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, or view it on the web.
warikoo Wanderings
by Ankur Warikoo
Entrepreneur, Author, Content Creator with 9M+ followers across platforms. I share this newsletter every Friday around personal growth, books, quotes, pictures - it is the most personal version of me online.
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