Learnings From Life (30s Edition)
As I took another trip around the sun, I found myself reflecting on a lot of wisdom I received from elders, family, mentors, and friends. A lot of wisdom I've learned through very hard lessons too. I'm generally a stubborn person, so most lessons only became real to me after I lived them myself.

I hope I can pass a few of them on to you.

Long-Term Thinking

1. Everything is a long-term game. Make 10-year goals, then make daily decisions that move you toward them.
2. Complacency is the death of thought. If you are too comfortable for too long, you are probably not growing.
3. Just do things. Stop talking about what you might do and start building, trying, writing, calling, applying, learning, or failing.
4. Always keep the door open to opportunity, even when it seems misaligned with your current path. Some of the best turns in life come from curiosity. Joining Facebook, for me, started with a phone call I kept saying no to.
5. Be willing to become the small fish again. Surround yourself with people you can learn from. If you are always the most capable person in the room, you may need a harder room.

Education and Career

6. Education is immensely important. It is one of the great equalizers in life.
7. College is a sacred season. You may never again have that same combination of freedom, friendship, learning, and low responsibility. Cherish it.
8. Nobody (except future colleges) will remember whether you got an A or a B in a class. They will remember how you treated them, the friendships you built, and the memories you made together.
9. Always seek discomfort at work. If you are not being challenged, you are probably not growing.
10. Don't blindly follow the traditional career path. Build something early. Start a business, fail, learn, and try again.
11. Fail enough times that failure stops frightening you. That comfort with failure will let you take bigger risks, and bigger risks can change your life.

Money and Ambition

12. Make money early if you can, not because money is the point of life, but because financial freedom gives you more control over your decisions and the ability to do what you love more freely.
13. Make money first, then buy the assets. A house, car, or watch may make you feel rich, but if most of your net worth is tied up in physical things, you may not have the liquidity or borrowing power you think you do. Build cash and investments first, let them compound, and only then use that strength to buy the lifestyle assets you want.
14. Money does not mean much if you have no one to enjoy life with. Life is not about collecting assets. It is about building a life you are happy to live.
15. A good life is built around people, not possessions.
16. Don't ignore your own problems while solving everyone else's. Stabilize yourself first, then help others from a stronger place.

Health

17. Health compounds. Eat well, lift heavy weights, do cardio, and take your body seriously before it forces you to.
18. Sleep is one of the most important things for your health. Get eight hours when you can and aim to feel rested. Bragging about not sleeping is overrated.
19. Test your blood when you turn 18. Get a full LDL panel, Lp(a), and allergy testing. Sometimes diet alone will not fix your problems, and medication may be the right intervention. I learned about my blood later than I liked.
20. Pick a sport you can play with friends as you get older. Over time, sport becomes more than exercise. It becomes a social ritual.

Friendship and Community

21. Relationships compound. Don't actively make enemies. Make friends, keep friends, and be good to people.
22. The quality of your friends matters more than the number of friends you have.
23. Life is ultimately about community. Sometimes living near your friends, family, and people is more important than living in the place that looks best on paper.
24. Moving cities teaches you what actually matters. Sometimes the place that seems better externally is not the place where your life feels better.
25. People may become jealous of you or be actively mean. That is human. Ignore it and keep going.
26. Don't complain too much. It is not useful.
27. It's ok to let go of people that are dragging you down.

Family

28. After high school, your time with your parents becomes much more limited. Spend time with them while you can. Cherish the ordinary moments.
29. Family is important. Spend extra time with your siblings. Those relationships can become some of the most meaningful ones in your life.
30. Sometimes your children or younger siblings do not want to be parented. They often already know when they have done something wrong. What they may need is someone who can speak to them like a peer, understand how they are thinking, and help them find a path forward without anger or judgment.
31. Teach your kids and siblings core principles early. Once the foundation is strong, the smaller lessons become easier to understand.

Love and Marriage

32. Before you get serious about finding a partner, do the internal work. Figure out the five traits that are truly non-negotiable for you — the ones you cannot compromise on — and write them down. As you date and live life, you will learn what actually matters to you versus what you thought did. Some things you assumed were dealbreakers will turn out to be flexible. Others you never thought to name will turn out to be essential. Let the list sharpen over time. But keep it written down, and return to it. It is easy to lose yourself in the moment. The list is what you wrote when you were thinking clearly.
33. Don't choose someone long term only for external beauty. Choose someone for their internal beauty, character, and the way they make life feel.
34. Forgiveness is good. You will need to forgive others, and you will need others to forgive you.
35. Being right is not always the same as being wise. Sometimes the mature move is to let something go, even when you can win the argument.

Time, Memory, and Daily Life

36. Live each day in a way where, if it were your last, you could say, "That was a good day." If too many days in a row do not feel that way, change something.
37. Spend less time on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and passive TV. Most of it does not add much to your life. Use that time to talk to people, learn something, read long-form content, watch something meaningful, or create.
38. Take more photos and write more. Your memory will lie to you, but artifacts will bring entire seasons of life back.
39. If you are making a big decision, sleep on it. Decide the next day whether you still feel the same. Often, adrenaline is speaking louder than your mind.