There are good things and bad things that I have learned…like everybody else. But one thing I wish is that I had a little more time in my twenties. I see it in 20-somethings today. We are in such a rush to take on so much responsibility. We lose the space to learn. It’s like children…we teach the creativity right out of our children. The same thing happens at 23. We suddenly get so focused on being an adult and the “what is right” that we push out any space for the “what if”.
We spend twenty years immersed in instruction and then feel like we have to put it immediately to play. But don’t forget to be wrong. That is your job as a twenty something.
It took me until I was 38 years old to realize that I couldn’t take it anymore to work for a company. I just want to be just wrong again. It’s okay. In a lot of ways, creating a company allowed me to become 22 again but with the experience of a 40 year old. That’s the thing for a 20 year old. It’s okay not to get more responsibilities. It’s okay to be wrong because that wrong means actually right. It’s the value that you can offer to a company.
– 40-something, entrepreneur, NYC