 When I was in my 20s, one of the smartest things I did was to read a lot of books. This helped me to become versatile and also to be able to write my own books effectively and sweatlessly. Your 20s are a decade when you are permitted to be selfish, to do all things for yourself that helps you to be better prepared for your future. What you become in your 30s and 40s is greatly determined by the foundation you lay in your 20s. This is the most crucial time in your life where your choices must be considered seriously. If you intend to make the most of your 20s, here are the smart choices you can make in your 20s for a better future. 1. Find your purpose. I read a story in the Jack Hanfield and Mark Victor Hansen's book, Chicken Soup for the Soul. It's the story of Eugene Edwards. He was a 50-year-old man who had always dreamt to become a teacher but instead became a successful plumber. However, he wasn't fulfilled. Eventually, he closed his plumbing business at age 50 and started a night school. He soon became a teacher and was fulfilled. When you discover your purpose and you follow it, you live a fulfilled life. Purpose is what fits your life into the exact thing it was made for. As Roy T. Bennett said, if you have a strong purpose in life, you don't have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there. When you use your life for something other than what it was designed for, you experience a kind of friction that leads to frustration. A purposeless life leads to a frustrated life. This is why a man who is designed to be a successful employee struggles to keep a business and an employee who was made to be a CEO finds it difficult to hold a job. Your life's fulfillment is tied to your purpose, what you are called to do. So, your journey to finding your purpose should perhaps be your most important journey now that you are in your 20s. Because if you have a why to live, you can bear anyhow, as Frederick Nietzsche said. 2. Forgive yourself for past mistakes. In her book, A Tramp for the Lord, author and missionary Carrie Ten Boom wrote about forgetting mistakes of the past. She argued that admitting your mistakes and confessing them is like tossing your sins into the sea and God remembering those mistakes no more. If you go back looking for them in the sea, you will never find them. They'll be washed away. That is the way you should treat your mistakes made in the past. It is uncertain that we all will live perfect lives in our teenage years. But acknowledging those mistakes and choosing to let go of them is the only way we can move forward into the great future ahead of us. If you do not learn to forgive yourself, you cannot move forward in your life. Apostle Paul in the Bible wrote that this is one thing he does. He forgets the things that are behind him and he presses on. Author C. Joy Bell C. wrote, I have learned that the person I have to ask for forgiveness from the most is myself. You must love yourself. You have to forgive yourself. Every day, whenever you remember a shortcoming, a flaw, you have to tell yourself that's just fine. You have to forgive yourself so much until you don't even see those things anymore because that is what love is like. See mistakes as mere setbacks are not a reason to put yourself down. If you learn to laugh at your mistakes now that you're in your 20s, you will learn to make the most of every mistake for your good. 3. Invest in self-improvement The wisest decision you will ever make is to invest in yourself. It wasn't until recently that I learned that part of investing in myself is taking very good care of my health. Seeing the doctor promptly as soon as I noticed a decline in my health. Why is this important? I found that good health greatly impacts productivity and productivity impacts success. Our poor health therefore would lead to poor productivity, which in turn affects success. But investing in yourself isn't just limited to your physical well-being. It also includes investing in your psychological well-being. It is doing all you can now to make yourself better in every way. Part of investing in yourself is improving your communication skills. Reading books that positively impact your life. Attending seminars that make you a better person. Taking professional courses. Carving out paths that help you improve your career. Choosing the right network of friends who challenge you to become better. Making decisions that positively impact your future. ETC. Whether it's taking time to read loads of books or engaging in coaching sessions that helps you build your strength or make you a better person. You will be glad you invested in personal development when you grow older. Because you'll be better prepared for your future. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Make the most of yourself. For that is all there is of you. 4. Find your true friends. The Bible clearly says, Bad company corrupts good manners. And Jim Rohn says that, You are the average of your five friends. Another popular added says that, Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are. All this prove that you can be predicted by the company you keep. Your life's success or failures is greatly hinged on the type of friends you keep. There is almost no young person who smokes and drinks whose influence wasn't a friend or some friends go and find out. As your network determines your net worth, the measure of your life's worth can be diminished or improved by the type of friends you keep. But what's funny is, young people love to keep friends. Thus if you must keep friends, then ensure you keep friends who are going in the same positive direction you are going. Back in the university, I used to have a friend who's only interest was girls. Each time we met, he only talked about girls and he always needed to get lead. I quit our friendship and didn't apologize for it. His family members were unhappy with me because we were close. I didn't care. Now that you're in your 20s, it's important to find the people who understand you, who are going in the same direction as you and who you can rely on. If they aren't going in your direction, don't be too sorry to give up on a friendship that isn't helping your life. Because guess what, one day you all will part ways, but their influence will remain. But a group of great friends can be a great support to your journey in life. 5. Live by goals If purpose is what directs your life, goals are what keeps your life going. If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberate your energy and inspires your hopes. said Andrew Carnegie. A goal is a drive in a particular direction. Purpose helps you identify what your life should be about. Goals show you how to get there. You don't need to have a laid out blueprint of your life. When you want to get married, the number of kids you will have, writing a book, who will be your secretary, ETC. However, if you desire to achieve anything significant, it's smart to start laying out step by step goals of how you intend to get there. Otherwise, a purpose without goal will remain an aimless dream forever. Entrepreneur and best-selling author of the book Goals, Brian Tracy wrote, A goal is something distinctly different from a wish. It is clear, written and specific. It can be quickly and easily described to another person. You can measure it and you know when you have achieved it or not. So, get a piece of paper or pull out your phone and scribble down clearly written and specific goals you want to achieve daily, weekly, monthly, yearly until you achieve your overall dream. If this video inspired you, share it with your friends. We love you.