I’m sure you’re probably looking for answers like “took LSD” or “partied with friends” but, from someone that did that, my answer is 100%, without question: got a fucking degree. Any kind of degree. Now, in my late 30s, I don’t have time between work and family obligations. I’ve missed out on so many better paying jobs, even ones that I was over qualified for based on experience, because I don’t have a degree.
smart answer! need to get on this, im nearly 21 :0 my big issue is i dont know what to go for
It doesn’t even need to be a degree, honestly. You could go learn a trade. There are many trades that pay much more than many white-collar desk jobs. I’d say check out your local community college, trade school, or similar to see if anything looks interesting. Contact them and request more information or even a tour if something does. Regardless of the route you take, you definitely want to learn some sort of marketable skill. Also, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing a career that’s just tolerable or boring, but pays the bills. You can seek fulfillment outside of work.
As far as not knowing what to go for at 21, I just worked after graduating high school at 18, and it wasn’t until I was 23 that I decided to go back to school.
Now that I’m in my thirties, I can answer this. Two things come to mind.
First, really should have just done college after high school. I really wasn’t looking forward to more school after graduation and wasted about 5 years before going back for my CS degree. I’m in a good place now, but could have had a 5 year head start on life if I’d just gone straight in.
Second, please take better care of your health while you have it. I was skinny as a rail in my early 20s and sort of took that for granted. I’m not obese or anything right now, but as you get older keeping in shape takes conscious upkeep. Get in the habit now and it’ll be easier to maintain later. It’s harder to lose the weight once you have it rather than keep it off.
great answer. im currently doing what you were doing all those years ago, procrastinating more school, so you and the other person’s response about getting a degree sooner rather than later are resonating with me. if only i knew what to get a degree in 😭 and great advice about health, especially dental hygiene
My advice for picking a degree: pick something that you want to do, but also something marketable. The degree is useless if you can’t get a job in it.
If you’re worried about college being difficult, it can be, but 95% of your success is going to be based on motivation. I was a TA in college, and the best students were the ones that asked questions, came to office hours, and participated. I saw many a “smart kid” bomb a test due to overconfidence.
If you’re not sure what to do, you can start with general education credits or even do the first part of your degree at a community college to save money. A lot of times a 2 year associates degree will serve as the first 2 years of a bachelor’s.
this has been an eternal struggle for me as someone with ADHD. i cycle through hobbies weekly to monthly, i never stick to one thing. one month something can mean everything to me, and the next, i never want to touch it again. this is what makes it hard to pick a career to do for life, i don’t actually know what i like. it’s like i like everything, but actually nothing. i decided i need to just buckle down and pick something i can stand to do for life, considering IT. i think if i work hard and try to stay motivated and disciplined, i can make it through like you said. i def plan on doing community college for the first 2 years.
As others have stated here, CS might be a good fit for you. I don’t have ADHD, but I’m neurodivergent, above average intelligence, and easily bored. I also know that, for me, work is absolutely shit. CS has allowed me to have an endless array of related skills to veer off into side quests, projects, whatever you want to call them. It keeps me from stagnating and the pay can be enough motivation to show up.
i considered CS but went with IT for a less math-heavy focus, i am absolutely shit and way below average at math
As someone with ADHD choosing CS as a major was the worst mistake of my life.
I was able to get in the best shape of my life in my late 30s, but it took living alone, not having enough money for food, and having four acres of property to keep up so I could sell my house.
Mowing for three hours on a small bowl of rice and beans or pasta with vegetables three times a week will melt that fat right off. But you’ll be miserable almost the entire time.
Invest in stocks. Get a four year degree. Purchase a shitty starter home even if you don’t like it.
While it doesn’t necessarily need to be stocks, investing early will greatly reduce your financial burden later down the road if you want to save for retirement. Check out the cost of waiting:
https://www.primerica.com/public/high-cost-of-waiting.html
Compound interest. Buy into a total market index fund that will get you more or less 7% on average a year. Let’s say you have a $100 extra per month (doesn’t actually matter whatever you can afford).
Sally from age 20-30 puts her $100 in every month. At the end she has about $16000. She stops adding anything, but keeps that money invested. By 65 she has $170k.
Jeff doesn’t start investing until he’s 30, but he’s consistent and does the same thing, $100 a month from 30-65. He ends up with about $165k.
What that means is Sally made more money than Jeff even though she did the same thing for 10 years that he did for 35. She just started earlier.
I think better advice would be “invest/save” in general. You could just throw money into a mutual fund, index fund, savings account, whatever. If you get a job with an employer matched 401k, max that out. I don’t think you need to worry about trying to play the stock market by buying individual stocks. You’ll end up spending way too much time doing it for minimal gains over an index fund, and a lot of the time you’re just basically gambling on what companies you think are going to do well.
I want to piggyback on this, if you are in your 20s now, or any age really, if you are willing to do online-only banking and have a good size monthly payday deposit some online banks like Discover and Ally will offer 4% APR savings accounts, that is unheard of at places like Bank of America that were only offering us 0.1% APR on savings accounts.
If and only if you are good with money and won’t go crazy, buy everything with a decent APR rate credit card and pay it off at the end of the month. We buy gas and only gas with a credit builder card after screwing up in our 20s, it’s helped tremendously and credit scores can affect everything you do from insurance rates to job offers.
Basic dietary and lifestyle improvements, especially as they relate to snacking, are drastically easier to make when you don’t have a decade’s worth of bad habits holding you back. I wish I’d started cutting back on pops and energy drinks and chips and chocolate at 22 instead of waiting until I was 32 years old and pre-diabetic.
Also, fucking floss. It’s not bullshit, and it’s not a scam to help Big Dental sell you flavoured string. It’s a real thing you should actually do. Especially if you’re like me, still eating like a fucking teenager into your 30s.
If you’re unhappy now, in your 20s, do something about it NOW. I’m in my mid30s, and I doubled down several times on the “generic success” pathway - career, marriage, house.
I am fucking miserable. At this point, I have trouble justifying extracting myself from any of it. If I had just ripped a few bandaids off at 25, I’d be in a way different situation.
Nothing in you is core. If it isn’t serving you in a way to get what you truly want, find a new way to interact with the world. No one else will do it for you.