Eleven skills every 24-year-old should learn before it's too late
From learning how to code to falling in love, the dexterities span a diverse range
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Your support makes all the difference.The age 24 is a fun time of your life.
You're likely out of college, maybe for a couple of years, meeting new people, and getting your feet wet in the real world.
But it's also an important time because around age 24, you have unquestionably entered adulthood and your choices could influence the rest of your life.
A bunch of people chimed in on a Quora thread discussing the skills every 24 year old needs to learn before it's too late. We narrowed it down to the following 11 skills:
Become a master salesperson of yourself
"Sales is the basis of all business success. You are always selling, even if your role does not include sales in the job description. You sell during marketing activities, team meetings, customer service, product management, conferences, business development, engineering, user experience and more. A solid foundation in how to sell can give you a wide advantage over your colleagues and competitors." — Anonymous
Get out of your comfort zone
"Get real world experience. Start businesses, talk to people, ask a pretty girl out, go skydiving, become good at small talk and for the love of god don't take yourself too seriously." — Christian Pretorius
Get very good at one thing
"Your job, photoshop, singing, dancing, whistling, so that if the worst happens, and you get kicked out of your job and house and friends are done using you, you can still earn your livelihood by freelancing... (even whistling will do — you can roam on roads asking couples to dedicate songs to each other and they will pay you – tried and tested)." — Rohit Mishra
Build up your 'advocate network'
"We all need people we can rely on to potentially expose us to new opportunities, people, and ideas that can further our career. Focus on creating value for other people, rather than just meeting them. The golden rule of networking: Measure your networking success not by how many important people you’ve met, but by how many important people you’ve helped." — Christian Bonilla, software designer, author
Learn how to code
"Learning to code is one of the most important skills any 24-year-old should acquire. It goes for people who have nothing to do with technology. In fact, the younger generation is already mastering technology better than us adults and learning coding in days. Kids nowadays have tablets, smartphones and other tech gadgets. Learning to code is an important tool that can be used for future development of a person. Everybody knows how to read and write and so they should know to code as well." — Maria Antsuk
Fall in love
"Yes, fall in love as love is the purest of all emotion and what is more beautiful than love? If you have not fallen in love, you have undoubtedly missed a vital emotion/feeling in the world." — Karan Jaiswani
Learn how to meditate
"In today's world of distraction, this is the only tool to keep oneself focused. It has been proven by research that twenty minutes of meditation is equivalent to two hours of sleep. It's like homeopathy; takes time to act but is worthy in the long run. But it's a complex process and you really need a very strong determination to practice it." — Sanjay Kadel, Realist
Travel more
"Create a passion to travel around the world. Travelling teaches you different walks of life. Explore Africa if you are in the west. Explore Canada during winters if you are in a temperate climate. You will get a feel of life on earth and develop a loving sense and meet new people." — Anonymous
Invest in personal growth
"Don't watch TV and stop fooling around, read as many books as you can, go to seminars. Always increase your value, because we get paid about our value, what we bring to the marketplace. So if you become more valuable then ... exactly, you get more paid." — Janis Butevics, 23-year-old Entrepreneur & Author, creator of Awake or Be Slaved
Stop worrying all the time
"Worrying is a useless energy sucker. Your life and circumstances will not change by worrying. Only planning and actions will lead you to where you want to be in your life. Experiencing life and the world with a carefree yet organised attitude while at the same time taking care of your health and feeding your mind with knowledge, that could benefit you in the future. Enjoy the present and always keep your eye on progress." — Deme Alexis
Start saving money
"Whether you're working for someone else or for yourself, you need to save your money now. Compound interest can make you a millionaire in 20 years’ time, simply by putting away a really small amount of money consistently every month. With a degree you can earn more, put away more money and become a millionaire sooner." — Stefan Stoman
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