20 things I learned before turning 25

A quarter century.  Twenty Five years old.  That’s what I’m turning today.  It feels a little weird.  How am I supposed to feel at 25?  I don’t know.  I just got here!  Each year around new years and my birthday I like to think back on little gems throughout my life that I’ve picked up along the way.  The following 20 things are some of those gems.  I hope you enjoy my birthday!

1. Saving is more than buying something on sale – you must actually set aside the money into an account.
2. Debt will hold you back from more than financial freedom and wealth, but also your dreams, time with those you love and puts restrictions on who you can become in the long run for what you think you want now.

“Debt gives you the ability to look like you’re winning when you’re not.” – Dave Ramsey

3. You can choose to be happy or choose to be sad. It IS a choice.
4. I can do amazing things. And I can choose to amaze myself every single day.

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas A. Edison

5. Consumerism is a disease.
6. You don’t need as much as you think you do to live a happy life.
7. Christ’s atonement is very, very real.
8. Every tomorrow is a blank slate.

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

9. Saying “no” to something good in order to say “yes” to something better later is ok.
10. You can’t do everything. However, you CAN make a difference.

“Success doesn’t come because you did everything, it’s because you did the important things.” – Jason Cohen

11. The biggest hurdle in this age is the fight for your attention – how you manage distractions (especially digital) will make or break you.
12. People are not going to agree with you. There will be doubters. They don’t matter.

“Confidence comes not from always being right but not fearing to be wrong”

13. The only thing you can control is you. Everything else has its own path and motion that may or may not intersect with your own path. But you CAN choose to direct your path so that it intersects with other paths that you would like it to.
14. Who you partner with in business is just as important as the idea you form and the vision you create.
15. Planning is necessary, but is worthless without concentrated and sustained action.

“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.” – Henry Ford

16. A life fully lived is void of excuses of any shape.
17. Stand up for yourself. You (and your talents) are worth more than you think they are. You can do more than you think you can.
18. Everyone has their itch – find yours and scratch it.

‘You owe it to us all to get on with what you’re good at.’ ~W. H. Auden

19. You don’t have to pull others around you down in order for you to succeed.

“You don’t have to blow out the other person’s candle to let your own shine.” – Larry H. Miller

20. Life is good. If it’s not, you’re doing something wrong.

“Life is good, if we live in such a way to make it so. [...] A ‘good life’ comes as a result of the way we do things, of the words we choose to say, and even of the kind of thoughts we choose to have. [...] ‘Wanting to’ is the determining factor which leads us to lay hold upon the word of God and be happy. Perseverance in making correct decisions is what leads us to happiness.” – Benjamin de la Hoyas, “True Happiness: A Conscious Decision,” October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session