Life advice for young people in the 21st century:

1) Focus on the journey (eg, path to wealth), not the destination (eg, wealth). If your sole motivation behind acquiring a skill is arriving at a desired destination at some indeterminate point in the future, then you'll be far

less likely to succeed.

In other words, you must figure out a way to enjoy the journey as much as, if not more than, the destination.

(Also, it's very unlikely the destination will be anything like you imagined).

2) Intellect and knowledge are irrelevant if you lack the mental fortitude to finish what you've started. Everyone has ideas, but very few people have the requisite determination or work ethic to bring them to life.

3) Stop creating unrealistic expectations for

yourself. I get it—you're inundated with messaging about people's successes and everywhere you look people are flaunting their social status.

However, here's the thing: no one ever speaks about their failures. Every person you deem successful has failed far more than they ever

succeeded. In fact, failure is the most important step on the path to realising your definition of "success".

Fail, fail and fail again.

4) Don't aspire to "be happy". Firstly, happiness is a temporary and relative state/emotion. No one can live in a permanent state of

"happiness", and to appreciate "happiness" we must first experience "sadness".

What qualifies as "sadness" when we're young barely even registers as an emotion as we age (ie, we become more accustomed to facing and handling adversity).

So, if happiness isn't your objective,

what is? It's simple: find a purpose. It doesn't have to be an elaborate purpose, but whatever capacity humans have for "happiness" invariably flows from having a purpose in life.

5) Stop looking for immediate gratification. This is probably harder than it's ever been, and I

haven't mastered this myself, but if you can derive immediate gratification from something then it's almost certainly meaningless and/or a waste of time.

Tip: if you're struggling for motivation then you're probably lacking experience of adversity. One way I've overcome a

lack of motivation in the past is through exercise; after 30 minutes of intense exercise, the task I've been putting off for two weeks suddenly looks far easier to accomplish.

Comfort should *never* be an objective or aspiration. Life isn't meant to be comfortable, nor is it

meant to be devoid of suffering. Suffering/adversity informs our perspectives and creates motivation, whereas comfort is the source of complacency and despondency.

6) Change isn't something other people do, it's something you do—change that emanates from within is the only type of change you'll ever have any control over. It's also the only type of change that has any chance of lasting.

If you spend your time believing that the only thing

standing between you and change is everyone who disagrees with you, then you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of disappointment.

What exists externally is almost entirely outside of your control. In other words, "prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child".