As we all agree, age is just a number — in fact — it doesn’t say anything about us as individuals, nor anything about our maturity or “wisdom”.

What matters is the experiences we have lived, the struggles we have overcome, the mistakes we have made, the challenges we have encountered …. That defines us as individuals, no matter the time perspective those have happened.

The past decade of mine has been full of life-changing experiences, journeys, adventures, challenges, learnings and failures AND with marking the start of my 3rd decade, it was worth putting all that “acquired wisdom” 😉 into this short blog.

Here we go:

5. Grow every day

Small, but significant growth DAILY. Indeed, learning and growth don’t happen overnight and for sure don’t happen fast — therefore it is important to set a daily routine of learning something new: new skill, new hobby, new experience, new language, new area of expertise…….the list is long.

And by learning, I don’t only mean sitting at your desk and learning something about your career- in fact, I mean acquiring new knowledge about wide and different areas — that will significantly improve the quality of your life and will give you new perspectives over and over again.

Learn about how to improve your diet, wellness and fitness habits. How to recycle better, how to be more environmentally friendly.
Learn psychology and how to understand your behaviour and thought patterns.
Learn about your attachment style and how to improve your relationships.
Learn how to cook healthier. Learn how to learn faster.

Learn how to effectively use your free time.
Learn about your energy levels and how to manage your day around that.
Learn how the economy and investments work.
Learn the values of different cultures and religions.
Learn how different regions of the world solve various challenges.
Learn how the world is advancing in technology.
Learn about the most advanced cities in the world……

… …the list is long…….

And by LEARN — of course, I don’t mean only buy books, sit on your chair and read.

There are countless ways to acquire this knowledge: travel to different counties and continents, try a “local” experience.
Meet new people from specific expertise areas and have a conversation.
Visit a museum, an art gallery or an exhibition.

Visit a sports event and observe the crowd.
Go to a meetup and network with strangers.
Watch a documentary. Learn a new hobby. Enrol on a course or academy.

Again, the list is long — what matters is to find your best “method” for learning something new on a frequent basis — that works best with your schedule, your habits, interest and lifestyle.

4. Learn to set your boundaries

I can not stress enough how important is to set and maintain healthy boundaries. Do you remember all those situations in your life when a specific behaviour or action by someone in your circle, both personal and professional, made you feel uncomfortable, unhappy, or even hurt you?

And you said to yourself: It’s OK!

Well, it is NOT OK!

When a specific behaviour, set of actions or conversations from a friend, colleague, family member, partner, or stranger doesn’t fully comply with your values and beliefs and that is making you feel bad- not only it is OK, but you have to communicate and set boundaries the moment that situation happens.
Otherwise, you will “pile up” those specific toxic behaviours and there will be a point where it will be very difficult to cope with that and it will have a significant impact on your mental health.

I know sometimes It can be difficult to assert your boundaries, but doing so at the right time and in the right manner will have a positive impact on your relationships, your mental health and your overall well-being.

3. Be honest with yourself and communicate clearly to the rest of the world

*This one is a tricky one. *We live in such a complex world, with a busy lifestyle and huge social media influence, that sometimes we don’t even know what we want for ourselves.

Or there could be another influence, like our relationships, our work environment, or the culture and environment around us — that blurs what we really want and need. Therefore we ended up saying and doing things that we don’t really mean.

Like, you don’t really believe in the new strategy of your company or your team lead, but you still give praising words — and then you end up super UNmotivated and your performance sucks.

You know this date probably gonna be the last, but you still continue as this is the best date in your life, you still keep that open communication — and you end up wasting time, energy and hope on both sides.

You don’t really wanna go to that place that your friends want to go to, but you still go and have a terrible time.

WHY? :)

Wound’t be much simpler if you communicate in the most open and respectful way — that you have a different perspective, opinion or feeling about the specific situation.

Clearly communicating what’s inside to the outside will lead to much better use of your and someone else time and to happy, honest and healthy communication with everyone around you.

2. See mistakes and failures as stepping stones

Fail fast, learn fast. You have heard this one many times I believe and it is usually used in an entrepreneurial context. But the same “mantra” applies everywhere in life.

Mistakes and failures are definitely inevitable, in both personal and professional settings. And instead of being afraid to fail or make mistakes and with that reduce the new challenging experiences, you should push yourself to as many as possible new experiences, where the more mistakes you make, the faster you grow and learn.

It is just a small mindset shift, where you just have to see every mistake as a valuable opportunity for growth and learning. It is not the days or years themselves that make us smarter and wiser, but the number of learnings and growing experiences we have had in that specific time frame.

1. Be your authentic self

One major belief you have to know:

You are truly unique- the experiences you have experienced, the hard times you went through, the challenges you overcome, the books you read, the movies you watched, the very different places you visited, the learnings you have learned, the mistakes you have made.

The circle of friends around you, the circle of colleagues and business partners, the people in your immediate and remote environment— the combination of all of these “parameters” is TRULY unique and TRULY UNIQUELY defines you as a person.

THEN: Forget about the society-set general guidance on how you should live your life, or what life events should follow in what order and by what age (you know what I mean LOL 😉).

Nor you should compare yourself with the other “peers” — because everyone is as unique.

Nor you should follow what the circle around you is doing IF you do not comply or believe in that or that doesn’t represent your true authentic self, your values and beliefs.

**So leverage this uniqueness that you have spent so much time building and be your authentic self!

Be the one who set the goals, the drivers and the motivators for yourself. Be the one who decides your beliefs, values and priorities for yourself.**

And lastly, live your life at your best by maximizing your core competencies, allowing yourself to learn and grow, respecting everyone by setting your boundaries and by communicating honestly and clearly!

Follow your unique life path and be the best version of yourself every day!