My youngest sister turned 21 a few days ago and I was asked to say a few words. Here is my speech, which I thought was pretty good enough to reproduce here.
What sort of advice would you give? Take a read and leave your critiques below.
The more things change, the more it seems the same.
When I turned 21 a decade and a half ago, it wasn’t as it is now. The Internet had about 3 and a half million websites; Facebook, twitter, even Google didn’t exist; phones were far from being smart; and we had just come out from a very bad recession.
Now, the Internet has about 200 million websites, with information at our fingertips; mobile devices that seem to be smarter than us; and we are in the middle of a very bad recession.
But even with those differences, there are some things that have remained the same. Now, as you’ve tuned 21, I thought that I would share fours bits of adivce with you to take as you move on to another phase of your life; advice that I wish that I had when I was your age.
- Start saving from now. For the earlier you save, the better off you would be when you retire. You may even be able to retire earlier in your life. Start the habit now to save a little of whatever income you have into a retirement fund so that you may live comfortably in your later years.
- Take some risks early in your life. At this point you will be able to recover faster and easier than if you had to do it later on. Start a business, invest in some aggressive funds, go back packing. Whatever, as long as it’s not illegal.
- Don’t be afraid of trying new things. The more experiences you have now, the more wisdom you would have to draw upon in your later life. Allowing you to make more educated decisions and hopefully less mistakes.
- And learn to fail, not just fail, but fail forward. You could learn more from your failures than your successes. And learn that failing doesn’t define you, but what you do after you fail does. If you give up, you would always be a failure. Dust yourself off, learn from your mistakes and get back on that horse and you will succeed.
I hope that this advice will help you, and that when you’re my age, you would also pass on better advice to someone else who is tuning 21.
Always know, that as you journey on this road called life, I would be here to offer advice and guidance whenever I can to help you find success, happiness and fullfilment.
All my love, all my wishes, and most of all, I hope you have lots of fun.
Enjoy your life sis.
