Recently, I turned 35.

10 years ago, I was:

• Working 12h days
• In an office
• Wearing a suit and tie
• To earn $25k a year

I've come a long way during this decade. Now I:

• Earn 10x more
• Work from home

So here are 25 life lessons I wish I knew when I was 25yo.

1. Learn how to produce value over the internet, so you can work wherever you want. That's as close to freedom as you can get working for someone else.
2. Embrace lifelong learning. Whatever you learn today, will be outdated in 10 years. Don't trust courses and certifications too much. Learn new things as they come out. Learn by doing!
3. Hone your English. Learn new technical skills with high market demand. And learn how to sell yourself. In that order.
4. Don't work for an employer that dictates what you must wear. How you must shave or how to cut your hair. That cripples your personality. Everyone around you will look alike, yourself included, and that's dull.
5. Prioritize your health and well-being. Your brain is your primary work tool, don't ever let work compromise it. Don't burn out!
6. Some of the most valuable things come from the boring repetition of healthy habits over a long period of time. That applies to health, tech skills, writing online, generating wealth, etc. It's called compound interest.
7. Be diligent with people who talk a lot. Ask questions. Demand proof of work. This applies to interviews, sales, security, education, and online information. Basically everything really.
8. Entrepreneurship is the ultimate learning fast track. Skin in the game and personal risk will push you to learn new limits. It is very uncomfortable, and it hurts, but it will make you stronger.
9. Most business meetings are useless. Certainly, all meetings with more than 4 people are useless. Escape business meetings!
10. Commuting to an office is a real grind. It can drain your energy one day at a time. The longer, the worse. Escape commute whenever you can!
11. Suspect companies forcing people to wear suits and ties. Why are they trying so hard to look professional?
12. Embrace diversity. Learn from different cultures and perspectives. Challenge the dogmas you grew up with!
13. Emigration is a way to escape low wages. But it can increase your cost of living a lot. It also comes with barriers you don't control (visas, relocation, etc).
14. Working from home is a form of "digital emigration". You can access higher-paying international jobs while living in the same place and keeping your cost of living.
15. There are people out there earning 10x more than you, doing the same job description you do. Talk to them. Find out how they do it. Do it too!
16. Escape agencies, consultancies, outsourcing, and body shops at large. While a client is paying a premium for your work, you'll only receive a chunk of it. Find a way to direct deals with high-value clients/employers.
17. Document your knowledge. One day you'll forget the things you know today. Write them down in a way you can find them later. Humans are terrible at data storage!
18. Share your knowledge in public. Share it with as many people as you can. In different communities. Gain exposure to new points of view. Challenge your dogmas!
19. There's no such thing as right or wrong for most things in life. Experiment a lot. Stop what doesn't work. Continue what makes you happy and creates value. Repeat.
20. The barriers to high-paying tech jobs are not technical skills, in most cases. Learn where to find companies that pay big salaries for the skills you know, and learn how to sell yourself to get those jobs.
21. You'll have much more fun developing software in a startup environment than in big companies. Legacy technology and bureaucratic processes can remove any joy of working in the enterprise world.
22. If your gut tells you to do something but it scares you, just do the thing. Do it badly at first. Learn. Repeat again and again until you nail it. Put in the iterations. This is true for new tech stacks, landing great jobs, etc.
23. Employers come and go. Clients come and go. Managers come and go. Your family will always be with you. Prioritize accordingly!
24. Tell people you're grateful for something they did well. Everyone's fighting their own battles. Your gratitude will make someone's day!
25. There's no online substitute for sunshine, the smell of nature, and a bit of rain on your face. Get lost in the woods every now and then!

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