Wasted Your Twenties? How To Get Back On Track

Do this NOW: Try and do ONE of these two activities as fast and hard as you can for 60 seconds:

Sprint. A lung busting sprint I'm talking about for 60 seconds
Pushups. As many as you can. If it's too easy do them on your knuckles

If you do this PROPERLY well done. You should be in immense pain by the 60 seconds end. Do you realise you've just experienced MORE pain (of the voluntary type) in JUST 60 seconds than 95% of the people in your life you will ever meet? Now many many things in your life will no longer scare you. Do this daily and then consider the challenges that await you for the day. They will seem easy in comparison. Additional benefits include:

HIT (High intensity) training is the most effective fat burning, immune boosting, energy increasing kind of exercise there is
Releases Dopamine into the brain - the bodies 'feel good chemical'
You will likely find you want to exercise longer - so you'll get healthier still
You're much more likely to 'Eat That Frog' - because what is worse (really) than immediate intense physical pain
It'll increase your tolerance for pain - helps with sports, tattoos, exercise, and all else physical

NOW Do this over the next 3-6 months aggressively And then for the rest of your life casually. (All from personal experience) On relationships:

Read
- Loving what is
- The five love languages
- Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps
  - These alone will save you around 2 years of problems
Listen more, with your heart. She'll notice
Appreciate they way she is - and show her that you do
Little gestures of love (e.g. buying her her favourite chocolate bar and leave it under the pillow after a hard day at work) are far more romantic than overblown/romantic cliches/gestures
Compliment her - in front of other people. It's an amazing feeling for her
Look at her when she isn't watching. She will feel it
Document her favourite things, quirks, what she mentions she likes, ANYTHING positive. Create calendar reminders every 2-4 weeks to randomly surprise her on the basis of what she said. This is an ongoing list

On sex

Make sex varied, not perfunctory
Pleasure her first. Not the other way around
Read 'She Comes First'. It will pay you back forever
Sex isn't missionary position as hard as you can. Break that mindset

On cooking:

Ask your mum to show your how to cook your favourite meal.
- Then her favourite meal
Cook this for your girlfriend
Try follow a recipe. Use Hello Fresh if you want to make it easy to begin with
Borrow the cooking expertise of friends that cook - learn how to cook their favourite meals
Learn from your girlfriend
Cooking well will pay you back forever when you cook for friends, the women you date, and the woman you'll love

On your career:

Read:
- How to Think Like a CEO
- How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Lynchpin
Learn:
- Excel v. well (VBA lookup/Index/Match/3D Sum/$/&/etc)
- Powerpoint v. well
- Word v. well
  - They will all ALWAYS pay you back and advance your career
Form allegiances with rising stars, networking masters and some senior folk
- One day you'll need it
Learn from those that have excelled
- Observe, Learn, Integrate, Apply, Surpass him/her
Work is 60% about doing the work well and 40% playing the politics game
- Do both to the best of your ability
Document your wins
- When it comes to salary review/appraisals/job offers you'll be happy you did this

For some resume advice you can check this out. On startup:

Read
- The Four Hour Work Week
- The Personal MBA
- Rich Dad Poor Dad
- Lean Startup
Execution matters more
- There are words, deeds, and then there is action
Build the startup as much as can ALONE
- Then find the team. What you've already built will improve the stock of people that want to work with you
Focus on sales/pre-sales i.e. validation
- Everything else is fluff. This is the acid test

For more thoughts on this see here. On health

HIT it
- High intensity training (140-180 HR) is the only one worth doing
  - You'll speed up your metabolism, burn fat quicker, and get stronger, leaner and healthier
Do it
- Start small if you have to. But you never need to do much more than even 15 minutes a day to see results
If it isn't hurting. It isn't working
- If you're aren't wheezing/heaving/barely breathing. It's not effective
Need motivation?
- Eat in front of the mirror. Naked

On personal growth

Read
- The God Delusion
- A Short History of Nearly Everything
- Freakonomics
- Pick some diverse topics that you like. Read them
Spend time around interesting people
- It can be dancers, actors, musicians, business owners, sportsmen. As long as it's people with a clearly defined PASSION
- You will learn so much from them
Learn a language
- When you can
- You can combine one of the above with this
  - e.g. get a foreign girlfriend (is how I did it)
Make time to travel
- The world is beautiful you'll learn so much
- You'll also be forced to talk to strangers
- You can combine this with other goals
  - e.g. I only run marathons in new cities or countries. So far 18 different cities in 10 countries

On happiness

Make time for people you love
- Friends, family etc
Laugh. More. It's an amazing medicine
Follow the health section. It cures so so many bad things (depression, anxiety, body image issues etc)
Give back
- Help a family member, donate to a charity that means something to you, volunteer
  - Whatever it is - it has to be meaningful to you

Overall

There is only 'f*ck yes' or 'hell no'
- Either do things with commitment or leave it for later or leave it altogether
Be reliable
- To yourself. And then to others
Find what you love and the 'working hard' will come with it
- And whilst you're finding it. Work hard anyway
No matter how sh*t your life is or difficult
- e.g. You're blind. Have no legs. Are quadriplegic. Remember - there are no excuses.

This life. It's on you Last thought Well actually I have more of them. Life has not been straightforward. To find out more see here This answer was taken from Deepak Shukla's Quora