A lot of people answering this struggle to understand what highly-specific means. I’m looking to, for the sake of experiment, highly-specific advice that gives a reader clear understanding of what they should do. Unlike the vague advice, on the contrary, that may be too abstract to get implementing it right away.
Inspired by this post but I wanted to change the question a bit to avoid the really vague answers as well as lower the age bar of target audience for the advice.
I’ll start with a bunch myself, to give a better example of what I’m talking about:
- Read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Ironically, because this is a post about specific advice, dude wrote a book with vague rules on how to do war, but the way it is worded is ridiculously good. If you take your time to think about the advice, you can find their appliances in the most unexpected fields.
I, for example, have improved my skill in videogames, out of all places, after reading the book. Sun Tzu said “If it is not advantageous, do not move”. Instead of rushing into combat, I now consider whether my position, current health, location of health packs etc. work to my advantage. Sun Tzu made me realise team-based PvP shooters give you room to avoid and disengage combat, you can make more impact for the team if you choose your battle and have everything work for your advantage.
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Exercises are not just about a lot of dedication, long commutes to the gym, expensive memberships and the fear of being judged by other gym members. 7 minute workout is a thing and it will give you all the benefits at your own home without the need for equipment, and it won’t take much time either.
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Buy an old used Kindle. For dirt cheap, you will get a device with a good e-ink screen that works without Internet connection, still has decent battery, is light and small. A new thing that makes reading so comfortable will trick you into reading more and books still happen a good medium for sharing information.
Save 15%. Even if it absolutely sucks to do so. If you have to dip in to the 15%, it better be for life or death. Skip meals to save that 15%.
1$ saved at 20 is like 20$ saved at 40.
Also, don’t cash advance from a credit card, ever, for any reason. I once bought a 6$ taco at age 18 on cash advance, and once I finally cleared it off, that taco had cost me almost 500$. I did the math.
If you make less than $20K, there’s no real way to save up. 15% of 0 is 0. But if you can afford some extras, definitely send an automatic 10% to 20% of your paycheck to your 401k plan or whatever. You will genuinely not notice it.
Use this calculator to see how saving for the future will benefit you:
https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/retirement-plan-calculator/
Starting at 22 saving 15% of 35K will get you $1.8 million by age 62.
you used to be able to buy dollar coins from the US mint with free shipping. that was the cheapest way to get money off your credit card without extra fees
Poop at work. Not only do you get paid to poop, you save money on toilet paper.
Explosive diarrhea during Zoom call.
“Hey man, we’ve got an earthquake, can I call you later?”
Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime
Speaking of, get a bidet. It can be attached to most toilets, though you should check to make sure your toilet works. Actually get clean for once and you will never be satisfied with just toilet paper again.
Go to party every day. Fuck everyone you can. Use all the drugs. You’re going to miss this time when your body could take it all without problems.
Fuck everyone you can
…with a caveat:
Don’t stick it in crazy.
Nah, that crazy is going to be great memories for when alone and without wifi.
Great, terrifying memories
No, not great memories. Crazy will ruin your life and it won’t be fond memories it will be horrible memories.
you can stick it in crazy so long as they don’t have your address. also bring your own condom and take it with you when you go
Use protection!
Yes, exactly! Wear a seatbelt!
And sunscreen!
Edit: sunscreen even if you have dark skin. Moisturizer of some kind regardless
Solid advice
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Your 30s will be better. Don’t get hung up on thinking your 20s are prime.
Can all the young people not smoke cigarettes please. It’s the one thing I regret in life.
There’s obvious reasons like health and money, but there are specifics that you don’t want, such as -
Emphysema. You don’t want that.
Receded gums. It’s not funny.
And you smell. Really bad.
Smoking kills, obviously. But it’s the things it can do to you while you’re still alive that are really horrible.
Good you say it. Smoking really drives people away. I’m a non smoker and never will, I’m seeking distance whenever someone in my proximity smokes.
That includes smoking 2: electric boogaloo (vaping) too, even though it doesn’t smell as bad.
the Surgeon General doesn’t like talking about it, but on average, if you quit smoking by 35, you’ll avoid most of the health issues. so if you think there’s no point quitting, you’re probably wrong.
Install GnuCash, learn accounting, and start tracking your money and use proper financial language. There is a lot of good financial advice out there (budgeting, investments, debt reduction), and all of that is much more efficient if a) you know where your money goes and where it comes from, b) you are proficient with financial software, and c) you can talk to the banks in their own language.
Dude, finally someone gave a highly specific advice that I was asking for. I love you. Other replies are decently specific at best, with some being vague, despite my efforts to explain that this was not that I asked for.
If you want to track your money: quit alcohol, that shit makes it disappear at higher speed
If you start college (assuming you’re an American) do not under any circumstances drop out. This goes double for grad school. What will happen is the at you’ll still owe money on your student loan, but will not have whatever advantages you might have accumulated as a result of having a degree.
Here’s my highly specific (hypocritical) advice:
Don’t take advice from Reddit or Lemmy on any important matter. You don’t know these people, and they don’t know you. Some people have good ideas. Most don’t. The ability to think for yourself and determine what’s best for you is the best skill you can have. A review from Lemmy or Reddit on a product is fine. Life advice from internet strangers is almost always garbage.
Here’s some more highly specific meta advice: Change your socks every day. What the fuck people…
Also listen to that other dude in this thread that mentioned dental hygiene. That’s bangin’ advice.
Stay off TikTok.
As an eastern European nearing their 30s in a situation much less extreme than yours - do not fall for “patriotism”. I do not mean the “go and fight for your people” type. That takes guts and mentality I do not possess.
I mean the “doing X is unpatriotic” type. Usually comes from “patriotic” formations who follow a certain narrative and work for the interests of other countries. Look for buzzwords like traditional values, us vs them, targeting a group of people as a whole, claiming to get back “what is ours” (territory lost centuries ago, not currently occupied land). Big social media presence coupled with self-produced “reports” and “news articles” (bonus points if they have their own mass media channels) are also a giveaway.
Thank you but I won’t let your aggressor, through puppet parties, dictate what about my attitude and views is patriotic and what isn’t.
Don’t repeatedly subject yourself to very loud music. Tinnitus is a bitch.
Do not fuck around with hard drugs.
I’d also say to develop a healthy attitude towards soft drugs like alcohol and weed.
Hard drugs can fuck your life up faster, but addiction to soft drugs can also do a lot of damage. Have fun, but keep perspective. You’re probably gonna be around people do stupid shit from time to time, but resist the temptation to be the person doing the stupidest shit.
Just gonna say that alcohol is, by all means, a legal hard drug.
I don’t genuinely think there are hard and soft drugs. I categorize them by physical and emotional dependence. Emotional dependence sucks and is hard to remove yourself from but drugs that lack a physical dependency are much easier to handle. Drugs you get physically dependent on and experience withdrawal symptoms from fucking suck and you should be very hesitant to use them. Drugs that have both should just be avoided (I include alcohol here but make an exception due to it being a social norm). There are also drugs that aren’t worth it for other reasons beyond these.
To give some examples of what I mean
emotional dependency:
- weed
- lsd
- mushrooms
- ketamine
- MDMA
Physical dependency:
- SSRIs (brain zaps suck ass brother)
- anti psychotics
- benzos (therapeutic doses)
- Ambien
- amphetamines (therapeutic doses)
Both:
- alcohol
- opiates
- benzos (recreational)
- (meth)amphetamines (recreational)
- cocaine
Other:
- deliriants (trauma + organ damage)
Obvious this is very subject to personal bias because it’s a classification system that is very useful to me. There are certain substances that could be argued in an out of their placement but I’ve placed them where they are with respect to how dangerous they would be to me if I were to try them.
No, drugs that produce physical dependence are so much easier to quit that drugs that create an emotional dependence.
To quit a drug with physical dependence requires staying off the drug for a week. To quit a drug with emotional dependence often requires years of therapy to resolve trauma.
That’s why I said it’s subjective and based on personal experiences
Go to another country for 1 year. A country with different culture and with a different language.
I live in Ukraine and most males 18-60 here are banned from crossing the country’s border 💀
Not the border to Russia.
That’s the fucking thing people on the occupied territories have that we fucking don’t. They can leave to the Western countries (or any countries, really) through Russia
Floss, brush your teeth daily and see a dentist at least once a year, eat less sugar and cut out soft drinks. Nothing worse than in losing or nearly losing one or two teeth in your 30s or 40s. Even without cavities, if you don’t take care of your gums, you can lose perfectly healthy teeth because the gums were eroded away.
Do some weight training and keep up an exercise routine … you can easily build muscle tone over the next ten years, after that you have to work a whole lot more to gain the same amount of muscle tone.
Eat less and eat healthy … learn to eat better and just eat less but better food … the sooner you learn this, the longer you’ll keep the habit and the longer the habit in your life, the longer you’ll live and the longer you’ll live healthier. What’s the sense of living to 80 when you end up sick and unhealthy for the last 20 years of your life?
Read, read, read … read the classics, read history, and read as much and as often as you can to fill out your knowledge and awareness of as much as possible.
Do all this now because you will never gain the time to do it all later.
Never assume that you can do things when you’re 30 when you’re 40 or when you retire because those times will either never come or when those times come, you won’t have the time or you will have so many other priorities that you won’t do these things anyway.
So do all these things now while you can because later may not arrive or when it does, it won’t be like you imagined it would be.
Thanks Baz Luhrmann
Sadly I already got a cavity at 15.
I don’t know whether to blame myself for that or parents. I even asked for toothbrush several times, but never got. I wanted to go to the dentist as I wasn’t there for years, but one of my parents would have to make the appointment, so as I said, wasn’t there for years.At least I have a good dentist. Apparently she’s not allowed to do anything without parents permission until I am 18 for some reason, but she’s helped me anyway.
When it comes to buying furniture: Get secondhand furniture handed down by relatives, or found at thrift stores, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, garage sales, whatever. It’s more eco-friendly to buy stuff that already exists, it’ll probably cost less than brand-new furniture, and the older stuff is sturdier than anything you’re going to get at Ikea.
With the money you save buying secondhand tables and drawers and such, buy a GOOD brand new mattress. You can cheap out on a lot of furniture, but never cheap out on a mattress. Decades from now, your back will thank you.
