Your 20s is a crazy period full of huge changes and decisions, and an entrepreneur has shared one piece of life advice for people navigating this time.
Naval Ravikant is an American entrepreneur and investor who founded the software company AngelList and has invested in over 200 companies including Uber, Twitter and Postmates.
Advice for people in their early 20s
Speaking on a livestream, the entrepreneur shared his “best piece of advice” for someone aged 24 or a new millennial who has just graduated college: “Spend more time on making the big decisions.”
Ravikant explained that there are three really big decisions that every person makes around that age and nobody spends enough time thinking about them: Where you live, who you’re with and what you’re doing.
“We spend so much time in relationships, but we spend very little time deciding which relationship to get into,” he explained.
He added that we also spend so much time in a job, but so little time deciding what career path to get into. The same applies for choosing what city to live in, which Ravikant claimed can almost “completely determine the trajectory of your life”.
The entrepreneur said that if you’re going to live in a city for 10 years, be in a job for five years and in a relationship for a decade, you should be spending “one to two years” deciding on these things.
“These are highly dominating decisions. So, if you’re 24, I would say those three decisions really matter,” he continued.
How to make better decisions
Psychotherapist Amy Morin revealed nine habits that will make you a better decision-maker in an article for Verywell Mind.
- Avoid overconfidence: Being too confident can hinder your judgement, and result in overestimating your performance or accuracy.
- Understand the risks: Great decision-making sometimes requires being willing to take a risk, but you must also recognise the danger or harm you’re causing.
- Reframe the problem: The way you pose a problem plays a significant role in how you’ll respond, so it’s a good idea to look at it from another point of view.
- Take breaks: When you’re faced with a tough decision, it can be very stressful, so it’s important to take breaks and avoid overthinking.
- Reflect on past mistakes: Reflecting on where things went wrong in the past can be the key to making great decisions.
- Recognize your biases: Everyone is biased in some way, and this can sometimes lead to you making the wrong decision, so try to be a little more objective.
- Challenge your preconceptions: Once you’ve decided something is the right decision, you’re going to cling to that, but it’s important to consider the opposite too.
- Recognize your emotions: Your feelings play a huge role in the decisions you make, and it’s important to be aware of these emotions.
- Treat yourself with kindness: Talk to yourself like you would if you were advising a friend on what to do, and don’t be too hard on yourself.
