The 5 Most Important Things to Do Before You’re 25
Given that I’ll be celebrating my 25th birthday today, I’d like to take the opportunity to use that as inspiration to share with you all the 5 most important things to focus on while you’re under 25.
These are the things I’ve learned over the years that have made me who I am which I’d like to pass on to you.
They are your priorities. They will set the foundation for a great life and you will do right to dedicate a little time each day to these things.
Before you start thinking about marriage or any shallow goals, first get these down. They’ll make you into the best you can be.
1. Grow Your Mind
Your mind is the greatest asset you have in life.
The mind is the origin point of all reality, and feeding it right, protecting it, and training it properly are crucial.
Feed your mind plenty of delicious mental input material (MIM) – that means cultivate the hunger to read, listen to, and absorb all the stimulating things that you can.
You’re a sponge. Experience the world. Experiment. Learn. Grow.
Lay the brickwork of your life and design it so that it bolsters your development and growth. Surround yourself with positivity, like-minded individuals, productive environments, and beautiful surroundings that allow you to flow, resonate in harmony, and flourish. Shield yourself from the drama and harmful MIM.
Your mind is your garden. Cultivate it and the fruits will ripen.
And never forget : your education is your responsibility.
A piece of paper from school doesn’t cut it. You can should! be whatever you want to be.
A strong mind will never fail you on that quest.
2. Build Your Body
The mind is the origin of your reality, but the body is your temple and the instrument that enables you to function and maneuver out there in the world. Treat it as such.
Hit the iron, move often, and fuel your body like the fine-tuned machine it is.
You are the architect of your life and the sculptor of your body. Make beautiful art of it.
Take care of yourself, eat well, keep excellent posture, and get fantastic, deep, enriching sleep to recharge your batteries each and every night. Success is today, so stop using hard work as an excuse for skipping your shutyeye.
And when you do that, don’t forget to dress to compliment it and carry it well and with class.
You’ll feel your best and maximize your results in the world.
Looks aren’t everything, but all else held equal, the better you look and feel, the better.
For the ultimate guide on building your body, check out my book, Architect of Aesthetics.
3. Discover Who You Are
We spend 12 grades and kindergarten in school to learn about world (much of which is unnecessary and forgotten), but how much of that is spent on discovering who we are inside?
Not nearly enough.
Who are you?
What makes you YOU?
What are your fears, talents, weaknesses, and desires?
“To know thyself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Socrates
Before you can get into a relationship with others or truly understand the world, you must first look within at who you are.
- Set aside time for silence and contemplation.
- Make meditation a daily habit for at least 10 minutes.
- Observe how you act or feel in certain situations. Why?
This will teach you more about life than I could ever tell you in a simple blog post.
As Socrates also said:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
4. Get Your Money Right
Much of civilization is stuck in auto-slavery. Self-Imposed Slavery (SIS)? They enslave themselves. Willingly. Although not always consciously.
Madness?
You’d think so, and you’d be right. But why is this?
For starters, their ego makes up all sorts of unfounded wants and desires that compel them to work to JUST to cut a paycheck to afford them.
So they spend 8 hours a day (1/3rd of their life!) doing things they DON’T LIKE with people they usually DON’T LIKE to afford things they DON’T NEED to impress people that they guess what…DON’T LIKE (and whose opinion of them isn’t worth a damn anyways).
Sounds like the perfect life, right?
Stupid.
By working on your mind (#1) and discovering yourself (#3) and your relation with the world, you’ll be in a better position to avoid the trap of auto-slavery, but satisfying your wants isn’t the only reason you work. You’ve got needs, too: Food, shelter, and so on.
When you’ve got a fluffy financial cushion, talent, skills, and varied income streams, you’re externally free.
You don’t depend on anyone to feed you a paycheck, and that gives you the flexibility to work in the places and projects of your CHOICE that’ll enable you to really shine and give the world the best of you – see next point.
This is likely going to involve some work that isn’t your ideal work or life passion, but that’s not to say that you still can’t go for work that builds you and find a way to enjoy it and make that work work for you.
Doing that while living lean and stacking paper is the solution for getting your money right to live on your own terms and being free from mental attachments and self-imposed slavery.
Life is too valuable to spend a third of it doing something just to fuel the other two thirds – half of which is sleep.
5. Find Your Purpose and Mission in Life
Lastly, when you’ve got the above 4 on track, you’re going to be in prime position for making your dream and mission a reality.
What are you going to do with your life?
To be alive is not to live.
With this gift of life you have in your hands, you have the ability to do great things.
Discover what your passions are. Find out what moves you. What gets you up in the morning? What lights the fire within your very soul?
Every single person on Earth has tremendous power within them and gifts and talents that they can utilize to add value to the world and to their own life in terms of fulfillment and happiness.
…and guess what.
When you are doing what you love to do and offering the most value to the world, the world will give you that value back. That’s just how it works.
You and the world will be better and happier for it.
Go find your purpose.
Conclusion
And there you go.
My 5 biggest bits of advice to all of you out there looking to live the best life you can.
Prioritize these things and watch your life change.
Got any questions or comments?
Let me know below.
Til next time,
-Joseph Murci
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