 Your 20s won't last forever. As I look back now, I have a few regrets and loads of beautiful memories of my 20s. Most adults regret how they spend their 20s but you don't have to. Now that you are in the 20s, you can build memories you will never regret later in your 30s and 40s. Your 20s is a pivotal decade that lays the foundation for your future. If you are unsure how to spend your 20s better, here are a few lessons you can learn. 1. You can't please everyone. I spent my teens and 20s concerned about how to please everyone. I said yes to things I shouldn't and for a very long time, learnt the hard way that no matter how hard you try, everyone will not be pleased with you. People just can't be pleased. I will later find out that people project their values, expectations, standards and insecurities on you. So really, what they say or think about you reflects who they are. You cannot change what people say or think about you but you can change how you respond to them. 2. Acknowledging your mistakes is strength not weakness. I thought it was weak to acknowledge mistakes. I treated mistakes like they were plagues and often imagine people would throw you out if they knew you made so many mistakes. I realized I loved people who admitted their mistakes and apologized for them. This wasn't a sign of goodness. I learnt people who admit their mistakes and apologized for them, showed they weren't full of themselves and were willing to make things right. I had to adopt that attitude for myself. 3. We aren't all perfect. It took a long time before I learned I was working progress, just like every other human being. People may appear to have a perfect life judging from their social media feeds but when you get close to them, you realize even the most successful among them have challenges, insecurities and problems. Knowing this will help you put your life in proper perspective. Although you will appreciate people's beautiful Instagram posts, you will also know they aren't as perfect as you think and don't have to bemoan yourself for not being perfect. 4. Leave according to values. Defining what my values are have set me on a path to personal development. I learned early that unless I define my values, good health, an excellent life, a life of success, I might not end in the right place. Your values guide you to a place of personal growth. They help you make difficult decisions, like giving up on wrong relationships, starting on a dream and becoming a better colleague at work. Letting your values guide your decisions may be a difficult choice to make but eventually it will turn out for your good. 5. Work and live. I used to think life is all about work, that you weren't of any value if didn't spend every minute of your life working until my health broke down for nearly 2 years. I learned the hard way that all work and no play truly will make Jack a sick boy and burn him out. Live as much as you work. Rest as hard as you work. Take occasional breaks as hard as you work. Even researches prove moments of ideal fun after some period of hard work increase productivity. 6. What's happening outside shows what's happening inside. Nobody could make you feel negative unless you had negativity on your inside in the first place. Nobody could make you feel little unless you thought you were little. I realized external circumstances often reflect what's happening internally and that if you can change what's happening on the inside, what's happening on the outside will change. If you can change your inside, you will change the external circumstances. For example, be happy inside and happiness will surround you. 7. Health is important. It's easy to undervalue good health in your 20s, eating all the pizzas you want won't harm you. Yet, taking a lot of sugar and working so hard with a risk couldn't do so much until we crossed to our 30s and 40s. I realized I needed my help to increase the quality of my life. So although it was difficult, I got into a few exercises. Doing right, exercising, working hard and resting well are all in your interest. Your 30s, 40s, and 50s will prove that to you soon enough. 8. To be free. Forgive. It's easy to be a grudge against someone, to be resentful towards those who hurt you. But I learned too early that resentment doesn't hurt the other person, it hurts your psychological, mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being towards the point. This may not be easy, but if it leads to a less strenuous life, then it was in my best interest to give it. People may not often deserve your forgiveness, but it wouldn't be forgiveness if they deserved it. And since you are concerned about living a long, healthy life, wouldn't it be better just to forgive? 9. We are all biased. Your perspective is neither better nor worse than someone else's. Realizing this could be scary and equally freeing, but letting go of the need always to be right and the need to always be understood will help you see the world constantly from a different perspective. 10. Kindness changes things. You may feel the world isn't kind to you, but try being kind to the world and see it smile back at you. When I react unkindly and without compassion towards the world, I have seen it treat me the same way. But adding a little bit of kindness and compassion to others have always changed things. It will also let you see the world from another perspective. 11. Making plans still work. I know it's a piece of overstated advice to make plans, but I never believed in making plans until I had lost a good deal of opportunities. Soon as I started to make plans and saw the tremendous changes it brought to my life, I was hooked. It is true what they say, failing to plan is planning to fail. To have a great life, make great plans. 12. Plan to adjust. Too many times, things don't work out the way I plan. What do I do? Make adjustments. Of course. Well, it took a while of struggle to learn. I should always make adjustments to my plan. When things go sideways despite your plans, figure out other ways you can make your plan work. If this direction isn't working, try the other direction. 13. Give up ego to have successful relationships. It's easy to let your pride cross the relationships that are most important to you. Refusing to apologize to a friend whom you are certain is in the wrong may seem a good thing to do until your ego starts to get in the way of your relationships. The fear of being taken for granted almost made me lose one of the most important relationships in my life. A relationship is one ship. If what you are trying to do is to win the battle, you will sink the ship. But letting go of the fight so you focus on a common goal will go a long way for helping you develop the relationship and even better relationships. 14. Connections are important. Humans are social beings. You don't survive alone. However hard you try, no matter how wonderful your life is, if you don't have people with whom you share your life, you most certainly won't be happy. Have people around who know who you are and appreciate you for being that person. 15. Comparing yourself to others is a route to unhappiness. Believing everyone is better than you sabotaging your own growth, potentials and gifts. I learned that if God wanted us all to be the same, He would have given us the same parents and placed us all in a single country. It takes determination to celebrate other people's success. But doing so will liberate you from comparing yourself to them. Let other people's success inspire you. Investing in your skills is recipe for future success. Your skills and knowledge is the only thing you carry with you into the future. Learning to invest in it is the best decision you will ever make. 17. Never let things get to you. Letting things get to me stopped me short from making progress for a long time. Soon, I learned things would always happen. I always have a choice to let them go or hold to them. But since it hurts so much to hold on to things, better let them go. 18. Stop being Mr. Nice Guy. It's wonderful to be nice, but don't take it overboard. Being assertive, saying no when you have to without being impolite was a lesson that took a while for me to learn. But years of hurt and being taken advantage of taught me to imbibe this lesson. You aren't going to please everyone so never be the guy who always says yes to every request. It's a recipe for Dan Young. 19. People won't always need your help so stop trying to force your help or your beliefs on them. I made this mistake back then. I was so passionate about wanting to help I would force it on people. But bad experiences have taught me when you force help on people, you'll often do them hurt rather than good. 20. Good health habits pay off. When you're young, your body can handle a lot of things, drinking, smoking, consuming so much caffeine, etc. But wait till you're old, the effects start to show. Changing your life may be the best thing you would do to your life. Eat right, rest well, exercise regularly, visit the doctor often. Your future will thank you for it. If this video inspired you, like the video. We love you.