'What Can I Do/Learn in My 20s to Get Ahead?'

'What Can I Do/Learn in My 20s to Get Ahead?'
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

2016-05-23-1464030348-36054-coffeecuptattoos.jpg

Do these two things:

1) Write down what's important to you.

This will help to get you ahead because NOBODY ELSE WILL FUCKING DO IT! It pisses me off. Seriously. Of the few people I know who have done it, they've all realised why they aren't where they want to be in life. One lady, after I'd told her to do it, actually said to me "oh my god, I totally know why I'm not happy!" Who doesn't want that kind of knowledge? Who would be insane enough to turn down this kind of knowledge? Fuck. I don't get it.

Just kidding. I do get it. I refused to do this for a while because I didn't want to find out who I really was, because what if I was that person, and still failed? Still wasn't happy? Still fucked things up?

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Because when I wrote down everything that was important to me, and when I put it in order of importance to me, I had this thought:

"That's me."

And then I had another:

"Hh man... I can do all the things I want to do..."

It wasn't a "can" in terms of capability. It was a "can" in terms of allowing myself.

And yet... people will still refuse to do this.

What will you do?

2) Live by what's important to you.

If you know what's important to you, and you refuse to live by what's important to you, it's going to hurt.

It's going to hurt because you can't use ignorance as an excuse. You can't pretend. You can't hide.

I claimed to know who I was, and I'd say things like "I'm being me"... and yet I was in a job I hated and was doing nothing about it.

I was taking little actions here and there... but not really. I wasn't taking actions I knew I should take.

Also, I know "hate" is a strong word. But some days I felt like my heart was falling apart. And that felt like hate.

When I started living by what was important to me, when I accepted that it was ok for me to live by what's important to me, that's when I started to make things happen.

It's when I started to write.

It's when I realised how much I loved writing.

It's when I realised that I'd found something I wanted to master.

It's when I realised I wanted to write for a living.

It's when I left that 9-5 job forever to actually write for a living.

It's when I became who I'd been holding back from being.

That's how you get ahead.

**********

If you liked this then you'll like my blog: www.matthearnden.com

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE