Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy this week’s edition.

That’s how it works. When you get older, everyone with a Substack, podcast, or live pulse has some sort of think-piece for the “younger generation”.

These are often, quite simply, the worst. Suddenly, time and experience makes us all uniquely qualified to talk about our failures and learnings in reflection to speak from atop our authoritative mountaintop of seniority to those younglings underneath us. You know what I’m talking about:

I will spare you the pithy title, but I won’t spare you some musings on my twenties now that I’m a full year-plus into my 4th century on earth and trying to get girl dad reps in (aka, giving out advice that no one will ever take). IMNLDWI.

Lesson for you all in these early stages of my newsletter: Just because I find something corny doesn’t mean for one second I think it’s beneath me. In fact, it’s probably more likely that I participate in it.

You merely adopted the corniness. I was born in it, molded by it.

I am very satisfied with how my 20s turned out. I got to see and do some incredible things - to the point that I was excited to settle down a bit!

That being said, I wish that I did more and said yes more. In reflection, I don’t think I’ve ever regretted trying something out or giving something a go at a deeper level.

These are the paths that led to a great new hobby (surfing, hiking and adventures) for me, new friendships, and improved my career. Bare minimum, it proved that I didn’t like something - which was often just as important.

Like golf. Golf sucks so bad. I can go outside and be unathletic for free. If I wanted to spend a sh*tload of money to get tortured, I’d just call the guy from the Da Vinci Code.

I’m sure there are some rose-colored glasses here and perhaps there isn’t a linear relationship between “doing more” and “getting great results”. But I wish I did even more of putting myself out there, especially in my community. You’ve got to do this sustainably and holistically (i.e., you can’t burn the candle at both ends or make stupid choices), but I do believe putting yourself out there is almost always a win, and the best time to do that is your 20s.

It’s not like these opportunities aren’t available to me any more. They are - and I continue to take my own advice to get out and experience life. But, I believe if you’re living life correctly, the older you get, the more responsibilities you have, and the opportunity costs of an “eff it, I’m in” gets higher and higher. For most, your 20s are the ‘freest’ time in your life where you’ve got free time and enough money and experience to actually make the most of it.

Simply put: I doubt that I’ll remember a night in my 20s spent on the couch saving energy & money fondly in my 30s. But as my family grows and I get older, I think I’ll begin to remember those kinds of nights quite fondly; building memories and watching my children grow up in our home, even at the expense of what the experiences might give me.

I think this one is my favorite. It also doesn’t mean what you think it means.

I’m not saying quit your job and go all in on your side hustle or buy a business or something. I’m also not saying to quit your job and sell sandwiches outside concert venues so you can follow Phish around in your mom’s van

(that would be sick though)

But for real, I recommend finding some way for your earning potential to be flexible. Whether that means starting a side hustle, finding a hybrid or remote job that doesn’t sacrifice your future career, or just investing really wisely. Find some way to put money in your pocket without having to show up to a place, trade your time, and then leave that place to go home.

For me, this was especially important, because I really love to travel. In my early and mid-20s, I was desperate to see the world. I desperately wanted to road trip the US while working and just have some way of working that wasn’t showing up at a manufacturing plant until they let me leave and go home, just to be on call for all hours of the night. It wasn’t a bad way to make a living, but it completely contradicted how I wanted to live my life outside of work.

I got pretty lucky, but I ended up finding a remote job that still pushed my career forward in a meaningful way and paid well. Sarah, Monte, and I got to spend a year on the road seeing what felt like every inch of our wonderful country and creating amazing memories together, all while making money and doing good work. The amount of perspective we gained was unmatched, and we did it all at a time in our lives where we were highly flexible.

We got to live in the present without sacrificing the future.

Maybe this doesn’t apply for those in their 20s that don’t really care to travel. And it may not necessarily apply to those who love to travel, but have flexible enough PTO that they feel they can scratch that itch.

The better way to put this advice: Find a way to blend your career and life so that one doesn’t suffer on behalf of the other.

For most, I bet that is making smart early career moves that allow for flexibility, current earnings, and earning potential to strike a balance that allows you to truly live life instead of being way too rigid at a time where I believe you should be flexible.

Balance is important in this one, too, of course. Maybe ‘finding balance’ should get an honorable mention entry, too.

Every person in their 20s should take the great American road trip. Go spend a couple weeks and drive this incredible country. Hit the places you’ve always wanted to go. Sleep at a campsite, meet random people, and enjoy it.

America is beautiful. Go see it.

If you’re one of those people reading this who hates your country, turn the phone off for a little bit, get outside, and unplug from the media machine that has you believing the US is this evil hellscape you should be ashamed of. It’s not. It’s the best place in the world at the best point in time. And the geographical diversity and different subcultures in this country are incredible and worth seeing.

Road trips also allow us to see a glimpse of the flyover towns and states that we’d never see otherwise. Ya know, like the places that the majority of people are from in this country? You become more relatable and you automatically become more interested in the back-stories of people you meet when you’ve been in or around their hometown.

International travel is awesome of course, but stop skipping over this country.

This can sometimes contradict with the first point I made, but largely, I think your 20s are about properly identifying these people so that you can do more and more of this as you age.

Some are obvious - your parents, siblings, and spouse / significant other (hopefully). Some are friends or other family members. Importantly, you’ve incorrectly identified some and should react accordingly.

This was a tough lesson for me at times - either misidentifying or misallocating time - but now I feel like I understand who really matter and who are worth investing a lot of time in. Especially those that may not be around for your 30s, 40s, and onward.

Not to be depressing, just being real. Find the real ones, and appreciate them!

Hoping this deftly toed the line between insufferable and heartfelt enough to be actually helpful.

I’m vibing so extremely hard to this European guy playing random DJ music in sick locations.

Aside: I know it’s not called DJ music, but I refuse to call this “house music”. Idk why, but the name “house music” irks me deeply. This is DJ music or chill vibey techno. Why are they making music sound like it’s some venue-specific offering, like a house dressing (which is always just Balsamic. Restaurants, just call it Balsamic instead of trying to up-play me with your “house vinaigrette.” You’re not fooling me, nor are you fooling anyone). No, I don’t know why I’m dying on this hill.

Anyways, it’s been fueling all of my writing and strategy sessions. My favorite is this one. I mean it’s Mt Fuji for cripes sake.

Not exactly the soundtrack to my week - I just want you to share in the misery of these catchy tunes getting locked into your brain for the foreseeable future

Sincerely,

Zander Barth