 If I could write a letter to my young self, there are tons of things I wish he could change, so when it gets older, a lot of things would be far better than they are now. In this world, it is said that you cannot eat your cake and have it. For most young people, this statement is just downright irrelevant and so they live however way they like. Reality sets in when you're a bit older, you realize that you could have been so much if you had taken seriously the simple tip that you can't eat your cake and have it. And so is what you reap. There are lessons you must learn as a young person now that if you wait too long before you learn them, you'll have a lot of regrets when you're older. 1. Your best life starts now, not when you're older. When I was much younger, we used to plan on what we would become when we get older. We had dreams and goals and hoped we would achieve them in the future. Here's the thing, most of those friends with whom I discuss dreams and goals are not where they planned they would be today. I found out the reason is simple, they always thought life would start to happen only when they grew older and so most never took life seriously until they were older. No, your life begins now. If you're watching this video, unless you're about 12, your life has started and you have all it takes to start to make your life work. All that it requires is taking responsibility for your life, owning it and working on dreams right from now. I always had a serious fancy for computers when I was little. So as soon as I left high school, instead of waiting for my parents to tell me what to do, like most of my mates used to do back then, I hurried to a computer training school. I signed up for computer courses myself and as soon as my parents thought I was serious about it, they got me into a better computer training school. The knowledge of computers I gained in those years has continued to pay off till today. You're not too young to own your life, your life starts now, so take responsibility for it. Two, fulfillment is based on purpose, not on things. It's great to have things, but if you base your life on acquiring things, that's a serious mistake. Fulfillment comes from purpose, not from things. Now, this is why you'll notice people who love to acquire things never get an end of it. They continue to long after more and more, because as long as they live, nothing can fill a hole in their heart, except purpose. Purpose is what you're made to do that you're doing, and so you would naturally find fulfillment doing it. Things would definitely come along the way, but it would not matter compared to what you're doing. People love to create things, and so when I have a project to build a website, design a video or put together a book publication process, it gives me the thrills because I have to come up with creative ideas on how to get that done. You can stop me from being fulfilled doing that. Find your purpose, find your life, find what your life is made for, and you would discover what makes you the happiest. Things would come along the way, but they would not matter to you as much as living your purpose. Three, riches is a product, not an acquisition. I once read the story of a poor homeless man who was picked up on the streets, cleaned, expansively dressed, and set up to be used as a model for an advertisement. He was well taken care of and well paid. Some days later, the people who had helped him return to look for him, only to find him comfortably living on the streets, poor, and wretched. Now most young people focus too much on riches, thinking they must have money at all costs, no matter what happens. Yet, most people who fight to have money never have it, and only a very few eventually have it. There isn't a simple, riches are not really acquired. Riches are a product, riches are a product of a person's mindset. That is why a poor fellow could win a lottery today, and in two years, his back to broke. Unless you change what is inside, what is outside, will always be bad. Unless the thoughts change, life doesn't change. So riches are a result of your mindset. Instead of focusing so much on acquiring riches first, focus so much on fine-tuning your mindset about money, because your life will attract what you believe. People who are repeatedly rich, even after failing so many times, have learned to build a mindset that continually acquires riches. 4. No man is truly an island. I've heard some young people say that they don't need anybody in their lives. If a relationship goes sideways, they're not willing to pay the price to make it right. Well, I was chatting with my boss some days ago, and he was telling me about his life's success, that he would never write his success story without attributing it to relationships with people. Friends and mostly unknown people went out of their ways to make sacrifices for him to become successful, and it was simply because he had learned to treasure relationships with them right from the start. Don't ever think you can survive alone. You can't. Don't ever think you don't need people to become all you want to be. You won't become it. There is this belief in my country that you're just three persons away from the individual who can be of great help to you. That is a fact. A person you are in friendship relationship with today could become an important personality tomorrow or hold the key to your success in the future. Don't mess up relationships because you feel you can be alone. If a relationship will ever stop to be, we all should make an effort to be sure that we did all we could to salvage it, not that we were nonchalant about it. 5. If you're still stupid at 30, you may be stupid forever. I know some people turn a new life in their 30s and so start to make something good out of their lives afterward. I can almost tell you this. It is kind of rare. Plus, it would be foolish to keep waiting till you're past 30 years old before you get your acts together to take your life seriously. If you're still jumping around at 30, helping life would throw you a lifeline along the way. You may be making a serious mistake. The best help you can do to yourself is to start to take your life seriously from now. Nothing great happens in your 40s that you did not start to make happen in your 30s. And also, nothing great happens in your 30s that you did not start to make happen in your 20s. People often hope to get lucky, but the fraction of people who get lucky is almost next to nothing. Instead of waiting for luck, get your acts together and take your life seriously. You're the best you, so you have all the takes to make your life work. Come on, get to it. If this video inspired you, like the video. We love you.