On Wishes to My Self of 20 Years Ago

— Get to know yourself and your identity: what kind of person am I, where does my uniqueness lie, what are my fundamental values? Value that identity, grow it, and don’t give in to pressure from other people or the media — never trade away who you are to reach someone else’s goals.

— Trust yourself more, listen to your intuition, and act on the body’s honest inner reaction, without worrying what others will think — even when, from the outside, it looks utterly strange.

— Don’t fall for FOMO^[1]: almost the entire fraud industry runs on this one idea — the illusion of a huge opportunity whose entry window is about to slam shut, and if you don’t decide fast, you’ll miss it forever. Big things take years and don’t go with hasty decisions.

— Lean more into the events that seem to arrange themselves, like a gift from the universe — the ones that bring an inner surge of strength and energy — and don’t be afraid to let go of the ones where everything runs sideways from the very start.

— Don’t rush.

— Speak less.

— Don’t get irritated over trifles.

— Be kinder.

— Treasure absolutely every person who is sincerely warm toward you, and be quicker to let go of those with whom the “connection” never happened.

— Accept that all people are different, each has their own path, and we’re all fellow travelers on one stretch of the road or another.

— Don’t shy away from being public, and put more into building wide social ties.

— Thank the people who help you, and be grateful to the world itself simply for being what it is. We shape only a very small number of the events in our lives, however much we’d like to believe we achieve it all on our own.

— Train hard, and study on your own how the body works and how to make it healthy, full of energy and ambition. It’s the most profitable long-term investment there is.

And what would you wish for your own self half a lifetime ago? 😎

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1. FOMO (fear of missing out) ↩︎