Thirty

Reaching 30 years old is a big milestone to me. It’s an age that you are not referred anymore as “yo” or “hey” but more like “Sir” or “Ma’am”. It’s an age that you are not considered young or juvenile. At 30, you start decaying physically and your mind starts maturing. Thirty is a pivot point in your life, it’s a good point that you can clearly see you were, who you are and who you will be. I want to share my point of view where I stand, with the support of the knowledge that I have acquired, how I see myself based from the experiences lived and the future image of what I want to become.

The following bullets are from my point of view. The expressions are from a personal perspective.

The Past

Learn from your mistakes

This is the most important advice I can give to anyone.You need to experience mistakes in your life. Unfortunately we are not perfect and mistakes happen. Once you experienced mistakes, you are more cautious and less likely you will do the same mistake again. You need to see where you went wrong and how you can learn from it.

Don’t live with regrets of the things that you have done but…

… it’s acceptable to regret the things that you didn’t do. Only you can regret them because you missed on the experience. It’s not acceptable regretting experiences. You can find the humor on those events that seem silly in retrospect.

Choose a career and not a job

You will spend close to half of the hours available of the day working. This is a huge amount of time considering that you need at least 6 hours of sleeping, leaving you with roughly 6 hours for yourself (not including commute). Of those 6 free hours, your only choice might to work some more. On your 20’s work will be your life. Make sure you are in a field that you love. You can get really miserable very fast when you realize how you potentially can use all this time to do other activities that you love, make sure you love what you, make sure you chose a career.

A career is that profession that you see yourself doing in your foreseen future. A career is when you look forward for the next day, because you know there are many challenges awaiting you. A career might even be taking risks because you love doing it.

Don’t work a job, please. A job is when you don’t want to wake up in the morning. A job is when you can’t wait to leave to go home. A job is when you just want a paycheck. Your energies can be spent on what you heart loves, not on what you are forced to do.

If in doubt, time is more valuable than money, don’t waste it.

Social Skills

Social skills is a survival skill, similar to find shelter or hunt a bear. I hate making this subject sound dry and methodical because is the total opposite, but I want to emphasize how important it is.

In your twenties, many doors open to meet people in many social platforms. I’m not talking about Facebook or Twitter, but real life settings. I’m not discrediting the ability to open a conversation on the Internet, but traversing that conversation to a face to face dialog. Some of these people will become your friends and best friends. Making and having friends is an invaluable asset of anyones lives. Friends and people you know, will help you muster the courage and motivation to keep growing as a person.

The Present

Keep doing hobbies

I recommend getting an outdoor hobby, mine is scuba and basketball, and an indoor hobby, coin magic and video games. Every now and then you need to break routines and engage on enjoyable activities. Explore the outdoor, explore what intrigues and provides endless hours of entertainment.

Keeping the Brain healthy

Keep yourself sane. This can sound silly, but the brain is a muscle that you need to condition and train. Find mind stimulating activities to spend your time on.

There are consumables that keep your brain healthy and active. I recommend consuming Triple Omega, playing puzzle, number and language games daily. Coincidently, Art Of Manliness posted a good article regarding this point.

There is always room for improvement

This is a fact: you will be better at what you do today, than what you were yesterday. Today you acknowledge this insight, you will be up to the challenges, because you know you will be better tomorrow.

The Future

The Uncertainty

The future is uncertain when you try to fantasize about it. Hopefully you have discovered the traits that form who you are, your strengths and weaknesses and that you can define a explicit path that can maximize on what you character is made of.

For 30 years you have acquired skills that will help you for the challenges is thrown at you. You will be ready for them, you will step out of your comfort zone and you will be able to tackle them. You will be startled, but you will recoup and take control.

Be a Father (or any new challenge)

I’m not afraid of being a father. Of all the experiences that I can imagine, this is the most certain that I am about. With any daring challenge that you foresee, don’t fear what comes along with what it brings.

Retire Young

We all wish to make big money the easy way and retire. Unfortunately for most of us that won’t happen.

Make sure where you are saving money for your retirement. Some employers offer a retirement plan. You should take it, it’s basically free money! Try to save as much as you can. I don’t understand most of the terminology, but I know that money is being saved for when I retire. (Continue to) travel the World

The World is full of jaw-dropping sights and great human beings. Experiencing the World first hand is very fulfilling for the soul. The future should be filled with soul replenishment. It has been a life long dream to be able to travel and see the World. Last December I went to Mexico, and I explored the Yucatan peninsula. The sights that I witnessed and the people that I met, it filled a part of my soul that hasn’t been filled before. I plan to continue to travel the World. If you can, you should do it.

My advise to do it, is to save a money based on a goal. A goal will be determined by your calculation on how much you need. I will write solely on how to do this later on. Once you have your goal and a deadline, you embark into traveling to somewhere that you haven’t been. If you are in the United States, start by traveling to destinations within the United States. This country is beautiful, and it deserves to be explored.

Finishing thoughts

Today (February 7, 2013) I turn 30 years old. I have done a lot of thinking to understand where I am now. My present is the byproduct of solely my decisions. I feel that I have learned a lot, and I know I will learn more.

If you are younger than me and read this, I wish you find anything insightful and have given you a different perspective on how it is to grow up and shape your persona.

If you are older than me, you are allowed to laugh for the thoughts written above. If you have a piece of advise that you would consider essential, please reach out to me. Listening to people with more life experiences is when I get the “insider secrets to knowledge”.

In 10 years, I will read this and I may laugh or I may cry, but I know I will be better. You can be too.