Realize where you are.
Some not so impressive things successful people were doing at your age.
Hey everyone 👋
This week’s newsletter will be a little different. Hopefully it’s a wake up call, or, at the very least, it’s entertaining.
Ok so you’re in your 20s? Why haven’t you started that $1B company yet. Why aren’t you famous?
The world is telling you to hurry up! BE PATIENT.
Those that you look up to most were likely in the same, if not a worse position, as the one you currently find yourself in when they were your age.
At 23, the co-founder of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey, was a college drop out working as a programmer.
At 24, Dorsey’s future Twitter Co-founder, Evan Williams, was a college dropout working in a marketing position for O’Riley Media.
At 26, the billionaire investor, Chris Sacca had just been laid off and was $4M in debt.
At 25, entrepreneur and Internet personality, Gary Vaynerchuk, was working for his family’s liquor store.
At 26, Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, had just been fired from his software sales job and was living with 5 roommates.
Mark Cuban’s advice for people in their 20s:
This advice was given in a blog post written in 2009 by Cuban just after the financial crises. Cuban called this a WTF time. Many would agree we are currently living in another WTF time.
The cheaper you can live, the greater your options
Take Lots of Chances
Figure out if you are in the right job
“If it matters how much you get paid, you are not in a job you really really love.”
- Mark Cuban
Figure out how to be the best
Start the day motivated with a positive attitude
At 25, SNL alum and 30-rock co-creator, Tina Fey, was a child care administrator at a YMCA during the day while taking classes at Chicago’s The Second City at night.
At 25, Actor and Comedian Tim Allen was in federal prison for selling narcotics.
At 25, President Barack Obama was a community organizer on the south side of Chicago.
At 25, Writer JK Rowling was fired from her secretarial job for writing Harry Potter while at work. The pain didn’t stop there - from age 25-30 Rowling got divorced, had a child, watched her mother die, all while living with clinical depression in relative poverty.
At 23, talk show host Oprah Winfrey was fired form Baltimore's WJZ-TV.
At 25, MGM Studios told Walt Disney that no one would ever like Mickey Mouse.
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you.
- Steve Jobs