Don’t Waste Your 20s (How to Maximize Your Twenties) PART 7

Continued from part 6.

21) Maximize your productivity

Your 20s are your prime time to be as productive as possible. In fact, if you are someone who is serious about life and has high ambition (if you read this website regularly, 95% chance of this given that the content here repels the average person in 20 seconds) – this will be the most productive decade of your life, bar none.

Because you have no children and few responsibilities for most of the years in your 20s, you are able to work longer and with more focus because the only person you have to look after is yourself.

You don’t need to worry about sending children to school in the morning or help them study for their exams. At the same time your parents are most likely still in good health.

Most things you will find about productivity are absolute bullshit. Guys online will tell you that you need cold showers or ice baths or not eating carbs or intermittent fasting or whatever else to be productive which is pure nonsense.

Here is what actually makes you more productive:

1. Waking up early: Yeah, it’s hard but it works. You’re not going to watch a funny video on YouTube at 5 AM in the morning. You’re going to work.
2. To-do lists: Make one right before you sleep, and get to working on all the items right after you wake up.
3. Do the hardest things first: What things do you end up typically not being able to finish on your to-do list? Those are the things you need to start with. It could be work, studies, or just some meditation (you’d be surprised how many people skip this even though it only takes 5-10 minutes).

Nothing complex but not easy.

Most people in their 20s are so lazy they go to bed with half their to-do list still pending (if they even have one) and guess what – they are always searching for productivity hacks on the internet (lol).

“How do I stop procrastinating” – How about you stop being a fucking pussy and get off your ass and DO THE WORK?

22) Don’t Waste Money

This is something that people in their 20s need to get drilled into their heads. Money at your age should be PRIORITIZED for a few things:

1. To improve your health (buy high quality food, pay for gyms, etc.)
2. To learn new skills and knowledge (courses, books, low cost travel, etc.)
3. To build businesses (yeah you need to spend some money on trial and error, and then double down on the wins)
4. SPARE money after you do all that should be invested (crypto, mutual funds, equity, etc.)

Most people in their 20s have their priorities all messed up.

For example, guys will spend $50 at a bar for beer and food and balk at paying $20 for a book that could change their life.

They will say online courses by verified experts who make a living doing what they teach are “overpriced” but have money to buy a Playstation and have a Netflix/equivalent subscription (wasting time, which is worse than wasting money).

They will say spending money to learn and build an online business is “risky” while they have money to do retarded things like trading in the stock market (99.999% of these people lose money because they lack insider information and emotional control).

They cope with all of this by saying “they don’t know how to start a business and have no ideas” even though there are infinite business ideas they can do right away.

My recommendations have always been to start with something simple like building an X account, web design, or copywriting.

But you don’t have to do these in particular – there are tons of other options too like KDP/ACX, building a SaaS product, etc.

Again, losers find a way to justify not doing anything. Everything is either “oversaturated” or “too hard” or “not worth doing” or “will be replaced with AI”, or something else.

These people are losers for a reason. Most go their entire life making $200k a year or less and never escape wage slavery. (In the real world, people make hundreds of thousands of dollars in niches which these losers on Reddit will say are “not worth doing”.)

23) High Truth Preference

It is extremely important to have a high truth preference in your 20s.

What does this mean?

It means that you are able to adjust your mental models to reality instead of trying to adjust reality to your mental models.

When you see something that breaks your mental model, you need to change the mental model and not try to alter your perception of reality to fit your existing worldview.

For example, most men are told that women will want them if they are “nice guys”. They go into the real world and see women get fucked left right and center by “not-nice” while they are sexless.

Most men see this and have two options:

1. Correct their mental models: Niceness does not work with women (they view it as passivity and weakness). You have to be bold/dominant, aloof/secure, and exciting/charming.
2. Try to fit reality to their existing worldview: Complain about “women of today” being “sluts” and blame society and social media or something else, while continuing to behave the same “nice” way (hoping it will bring better results, which spoiler alert: it won’t)

Guess what most people pick? They pick option 2.

Because option 2 is easy. It feels nice. You don’t have to change a thing about yourself and you get to complain about the problem.

But option 1 (high truth preference) actually improves your life. Even though the truth is painful to accept. Even though it means you will have to work hard to change yourself to adapt to actual reality.

Throughout your 20s (and even beyond), ALWAYS have a high truth preference. Always adapt your worldview to reality and not the other way around.

It will hurt and it will involve work, but you will get results in the long run (and often in the short run as well). The only person you delude every time you pick option 2 is yourself.

24) Avoid Commitments

Your 20s are a decade primarily focused on learning and self-improvement. This means that you get better every year if you do things right.

Which means that you should avoid getting into long term commitments at least till your mid-20s simply because you haven’t yet “unlocked” most of your value.

Avoid getting yourself into long term relationships and/or marriage till you are 25 (minimum). Ideally you want to wait a few more years.

Any girl you can get before you hit 25, I can guarantee you can get a much better one after you are 25. This is because before you hit 25, you are still lower in value to most women your age.

Young women are inherently valuable because of their beauty and fertility while young men need to BUILD THEIR VALUE. The idea that you are high value in your 20s is the #1 myth that young men have about the world.

Read: 25 Myths Young Men Have About The World

After 25, things start getting “sorted” and the chips start to fall in place (assuming you spend the previous years right which includes learning game).

By 28, you’re far ahead of your peers and too far ahead to be caught up with by people who are only just starting to fix their life.

You can now look for a long term partner and get your pick of the litter.

But in your early years? Focus exclusively on casual relationships to have fun (and women who desire you are a lot of fun to be with – yes even the not-very-pretty-but-not-ugly ones), learn game, build your sexual skills, and get experience.

Experience will help you pick the right partner later. You will actually know what traits and personality you want in a woman. Most guys just leave it all to luck (reason why the unhappy marriage and divorce rate is high and climbing).

That’s all for this piece.

This article will be continued in part 8.

– Harsh Strongman