Simple advice for everyone in their 20's

Let me walk you through a story before going to the point.

He was furious.

“You're getting old, Dad! Stop telling me to quit using social media,” my teenager told me.

“There’s nothing wrong with social media, Dad!” he continued. “Everyone uses these devices… maybe you are the one with the problem,” he retorted.

“Son, life is like a ladder. The higher you go, the easier your life will be — the lower you are on this ladder of value, the higher the odds you will struggle in the future.”

That got his attention.

“Ladder of value? What do you mean, Dad?”

The same lesson I gave my son, will answer your question: do you have any advice for my early 20s life?

“We all have the same twenty-four hours a day. No matter who you are, time makes NO distinctions. The ground is leveled. When we're young, we feel like time is infinite, but never underestimate your time. It’s your most precious resource of life.”

“What does this have to do with my smartphone?” he asked.

“Every morning when you wake up, imagine you have a ladder in front of you. You face the daily challenge of going up this ladder of value.”

“How do I go up?” he asked.

“Each step you go up, the more valuable you will be to this world.”

He was still mad, complaining and getting impatient, “Why is that important?”

“You will earn a living by exchanging value with others. We pay people for the value they deliver through their job. The higher the value of their work, the more we pay them. Likewise, we deliver valuable products and services to others through our business. The more value we deliver, the more they pay us. It's simple.”

“What does this have to do with social media?”

“You are only consuming. That's the problem. Every hour you consume other people's value is like going down the ladder. When you grow your value or deliver value to others, consider going up.”

He stood there thinking for a few seconds.

“At the end of the day,” I continued, “I want you to be aware and ask yourself daily, ‘Are you ending this day above or below the day before?’”

“Ouch,” he said with his eyes popping out.

“Have this picture in your mind. Are you making progress climbing the ladder every day?”

He smiled and I gave him a hug.

“That’s the whole point, Son. I encourage you to invest your time wisely.”

“The key in life is to become a person of value.”

“Money and people are attracted to value.”

“The more value you give to this world, the more the world will pay for you.”