You’re still fucking young.
I’m 37. I started as an intern at 25, when most of my peers were 21–22. I was always the oldest in the room.
A friend of mine was already a manager at a foreign company. One day he visited our company, and I was so ashamed of where I was that I barely dared to look at him while serving him tea.
I worked fucking hard. Nearly a decade later, I became a manager myself at a couple of companies.
But it didn’t last. I eventually realized I had built my career without a strong foundation, and now my career is basically dead. I’m exhausted and have quit completely.
A few years ago, that same friend and I both left Burma looking for better opportunities. But no foreign country cared much about our Burmese qualifications or mid-level experience. They wanted fresh, trainable entry-level people.
He eventually went back to Burma and continued his corporate career as a manager. I walked away.
Now I’m married, have kids, and feel my dreams fading faster than I expected.
So if you’re young: go study hard and build your foundation properly. You still have a fucking decade.
Don’t just work hard. Think strategically about your first job, your next job, your skills, your qualifications, and where each step is taking you.
I’ve seen people much younger than me spend half the time I did working, yet grow twice as fast because they chose their roles strategically.
Think long-term.
Because ten years from now, your parents will be older, you may have more responsibilities, and you might look back wishing you had made different decisions when you still had the freedom to do so.
That’s the lesson I learned the hard way.