Finding Direction

Our early 20s are often ideal for leveraging free time, yet we do not always know where we are headed. This is a guide to living with purpose in your early 20s, for those who want direction. This framing of my early 20s changed my life, and provided me with fulfilment. I hope it can do the same for others. 

The framework covers:

• Developing career interests & Skill stacking 📚

• Setting a vision, and action plan 🎯

• Working on yourself ❤️

Goals for your 20s: 

• Learn self care & time management

• Discover your limits & find balance

• Develop a growth mindset

• Skill stack

• Enjoy life - find hobbies, travel, go on an adventure!

Step 1: Career planning

Career planning is stressful! The anxiety of not knowing what you want to do only grows when we ignore it. Try researching different companies, jobs, sectors and skills. Youtube is a good tool for this :). Use linkedin to find mentors with experience in areas that fascinate you. We have all heard of sales and marketing - but do you understand what they involve? Discovering interests starts with learning. 📚

Tip: People are generally keen to share their career experience & advice with you if you listen.

Step 2: Vision

Define what success looks like for you, and set a powerful vision where you achieve this. This is a present-moment imagination of you achieving success, set at a specific date in the future. It does not have to be solely work focused. Imagine the most fulfilled / best version of yourself. What are you doing in life, and how does it make you feel? What have you accomplished? 💭

Tip: Draw it on paper and put it somewhere you see regularly. 

Step 3: Strategise 

Strategy is the way in which you go about making your vision a reality. Create a long term strategy by asking yourself: what key objectives are required to make this vision real? 🤔

Tip: Become genuinely excited about this new version of yourself for motivation. Check out: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JslSl-6WM1Y

Step 4: Plan

Think about how you will implement your strategy. What needs to happen for your strategy to work? 

• Set milestones with dates. 🏔

• Split milestones into 'sprints' (efforts that last a few weeks / months) 🏃

• Outline a few central goals for each sprint. 🎯

Tip: Action creates motivation, not the other way around. Create positive momentum!

Step 5: Manifest 

Don't worry, i'm not preaching about some magical power where you think really hard and poof... it's real! ✨ 

Manifesting = focusing your time and energy on something to make it happen. A core component of this is telling yourself, with conviction, that this can come true each day, regardless of if you believe it. Accepting failure as a necessary learning curve is also very important. 

Steps: 

• At the beginning of a sprint, break the sprint into week long goals. 

• Each weekend, decide what tasks need to be completed to meet this weeks goal. 

• Mark blocks of time into your calendar to complete these tasks. Remember: time is limited & small tasks are endless. Always focus on the most powerful thing you can do to move toward your vision. 

Using a calendar empowers you to calmly execute major efforts, by living life one day at a time. It also helps you prioritise time for important things like hobbies, relationships, and time to re-charge. ⚡️ 

Tip: Time blocking is a set of techniques that help reduce the time and energy required to complete tasks.

Tip 2: Worried about something? Dedicate time in your week to worry about / fix it to free up mental space. 

Step 6 (final): Become a skill stack master

To help others and provide value, you will need specific skills. Build this into your strategy. There is a benefit to both diverse and specific skill sets. Develop a skillset that leverages your strengths. Develop sought-out and unique skills that work in synergy to ensure you are not easily replaceable & can provide valuable services to others. To leverage your skillset - learn how to communicate its value. 🧑🏾🏭🧑🏻🏫

How do I go about this? 

FOCUS ON STACKING HIGH-VALUE SKILLS

You can pretty much learn anything online. The best way to learn, is through practice. Take on side projects that will teach you a skill. This can be a job/internship, or something simple that you work on at home. Don’t expect to succeed immediately, learn to enjoy the process of trial and error. 

Some common high value skills include copywriting, coding, sales, leadership, project management, video/photo editing, etc. Leveraging AI & prompt engineering are two to look out for.

My examples:

• Lead generation & marketing strategy 🧑🏽 

• Identification & communication of value 🗣

• Leveraging AI tools (prompt engineering) 🤖

• Copywriting ✍️

• Webdesign 💻

• Building internal management systems 🔧

• Leadership + project management 🚀

*A project I work on happens to encompass most of the above, set realistic SMART goals, and focus on one at a time. 

(If you are a master of one of these skills, hit me up! 😁) - Max Kennan linkedin

Tip: Your subconscious listens to your thoughts & seeks out external evidence to back up your beliefs. Believe in something, and you will see opportunities everywhere. Practice identifying and noting unhelpful thought patterns, and replace them with positive ones. 

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistent small efforts move mountains. Though this may seem like a lot, it is very manageable when taken day by day. It can only be successful if you incorporate it in a sustainable way. 

If you believe this could help someone you know, please share it with them 🙏