What To Do When You Feel Like You Wasted Your Life Away

About to turn 30, 40, or heck even 90 years old? Maybe there’s a country you always wanted to visit or a certain type of relationship you wanted. Or maybe you always wanted to try a rocky roll ice cream but never did.

There usually comes a point in people lives when they question how much of time they wasted. They regret the following years of procrastinating on their dreams and pushing away the ideas they always pondered.

Whether you’re going into your thirties, fifties, or seventies, people usually reach a realization that worries them. They then get into get rich quick schemes to catch up on all the years they missed out on.

Sure, to be frank, living in your 20s is an amazing time to devote yourself to a variety of activities and making stupid mistakes. It gives you a chance to test out what you enjoy doing and that newly world feeling. A few people I know who are successful in their 30s and 40s happened only because of how hard they had to work for it during their early years.

But does this mean if you’re 32 years old and now question where your life is heading, you’re doom to never obtain the lifestyle you wanted? Heck no! If that was a case, life would be pretty screwed up.

The only thing holding you back is the constant thoughts that you have about wasting your life away and that you’re at an age where it’s too late to do anything. Unless you remove those unwanted thoughts from your head, you’ll continue regretting how much time you wasted away.

Accept That Your Dream Requires an Investment

The first step is to destroy the self-pity you conjure up for yourself daily. Realize that your only obstacle is your mind. It’s not how old you are or what your income level is set at. I won’t make up false beliefs by saying you have all the time in the world if you want to start your business at 52, but you have a 10 year head start if you were to decide to embark on your dreams at 62.

Dreams and achieving lifetime goals require work and time itself. It’s impossible to master anything simply because you wish for it, and a harsh truth to tell yourself is that if you start working on it today, you’ll be smarter than you were the day before.

I constantly used to wish that I had worked on my programming skills as a young boy than right now because it would have made my work a lot faster and easier. But I don’t beat myself up about it because although I regret not learning that skill back then, I’m grateful for the skills I did manage to get into. I may have not spent years practicing coding, but I did spend it learning how to socialize, reading, mastering eye-contact, and simply learning how to have fun.

And such as myself, I’m sure you gathered a list of skills that made you the person you are today. You may not have spent your early 20s or teens learning investments or business, but you did learn the type of people you don’t like dating, how much alcohol you can handle, and other interesting life lessons.

Looking for your passion? Try this out

A big problem I’ve come across was people dealing with a closed mindset. They’d often prefer staying in their own little bubble rather than exploring what was out there in the real world.

And it makes sense. I often entrap myself in a secure lifestyle whenever I go to work and return home. My first thought isn’t to hit the bar or socialize. It’s returning back to my office at home and enjoying the online world. I love watching YouTube videos and speaking to people online. But I avoid it because I know life is much more than just exploring the internet. It’s about learning about yourself as you explore the world. It’s learning how simple people really are when you get a chance to know them.

Thus, follow the parental figure in your head telling you what the right thing to do is. You know spending countless hours online isn’t fulfilling your life. You know whenever you speak to a stranger in real life, your brain shoots a haywire on what to respond back versus just being in an online chat room. Therefore, use the opportunity to take a class at a community college. Interact with people in your neighborhood.

Visit your local coffee shop and go on your computer there if you must. At least you’ll be around strangers to help burst you out of your bubble. Go to a local gym and just be you there. Overtime, you are bound to meet someone you see constantly exercising there. (It’s strange, but it always seem to happen.)

The more you interact with the outside world, the more you learn about yourself and who you really are. You learn about your thoughts, what you enjoy doing, and possible ideas that can stir your life in the future. Maybe there’s a hidden artist somewhere inside you. Or perhaps a musician. Perhaps a great inventor. Or maybe a business mastermind. You won’t know until you escape that comfort zone.

Know that it’s not too late for the real things in life

Sure, perhaps you’re a little older than you’d like to be whenever you start a new goal or experience. But the only things you missed out on were meaningless events such as the time Titanic was released and how everyone was thrilled about it. Perhaps you missed out on Bill Clinton’s big speech. Maybe you missed out on investing in Google before it got big. No big deal if you missed out on any of these opportunities.

Despite what life events you may have missed out on, it’s never too late to capture the most meaningful events in life. You still have a chance to find love. You still have a chance to start a family. You still have a chance to learn a skill you always thought about. You still have a chance to travel to Europe or South America. You still have a chance to smile and be happy again.

Raymond Chandler, one of the most successful writers of all time, wrote his first novel at 52. Stan Lee, at 44, was recognized for creating some of the best marvel characters of this generation. Tim Zagat quitted his job as a lawyer to write the book of restaurant reviews when he was 51. Harry Bernstein was 93 years old when his first book was finally accepted by a book publisher and made into a best seller.

When people assume they wasted their life away, they give themselves the belief that there’s no point in learning a new skill or interest. They assume love is pointless to find because they’re too old, have children, or both. But despite how old you are, imagine yourself as a child who wishes to explore an interest they love. Even if you’re 50, you have the chance to find attraction, love, hate, and love again. Never use your age or situation as an excuse for what you want.

Embrace the 10,950 Hour Rule

Let’s ignore the popular belief that you need 20 years before you finally reach that success peak. Instead, we’re going to break it down by the math. How? I’ll explain.

First, we’re going to assume you already have a job or other commitments you’re obligated to serve to prevent you from overwhelming yourself.

It’s going to take 20 hours for you to learn a new skill you’re genuinely interested in.

And if you want to be the Go-To Guy for that skill, it’s going to take 50 hours to master that skill to know it front and back.

It’s then going to take around 10,950 hours before you establish a goal such as a decent company or project with that newly acquired skill.

To the average person, 10,950 hours would seem like a long time just to establish a lifetime goal. But in reality, that’s about 2190 total days if you worked on a business or project with that learned skill for 5 hours a day. Or you can see it as 313 weeks if it makes things prettier to look at. Or you can say it takes 73 months. Or you can break it down to about 6 years if you spend just 5 hours a day on a major project.

Does 6 years sound like a long time? It does when you see it from a long range point of view. But you’d be amazed just how fast 6 years can pointlessly go by.

The average person usually only needs around 4 – 5 years to make life a great experience when they march towards a certain goal. For example, all Steve Jobs needed was 4 years in the late 70s and 2000s to be known for his ingenious mind in his creativity and business. In the late 1800s, it took Henry Ford around 4 years before his major work was established. Albert Einstein was in his late 20s when people began recognizing his abilities. Agatha Christie went through 5 years of continual rejection before she finally received a publishing deal. Her book sales are now in excess of $2 billion. It took Bill Gates 4 years after establishing Microsoft before it reached $1 million in sales.

Yes, they all spent long hours and years mastering their trades, but that took around 60 hours to be a master of their skills. From there, they spent the following years fulfilling a lifetime goal they aimed for. It took Agatha years of rejection before her work was finally accepted. It took Bill Gates around 16 hours every day just to ensure his company was a success.

In other words, just start off with 5 hours a day learning a skill for 12 days before you get pretty good at it. Or you can spend 15 days mastering a skill if you spend just 4 hours a day on it. Or you can spend 30 days mastering a skill if you spend 2 hours a day on it.

Whenever you’re working on a skill you wish to master, continue working on it until you feel comfortable showing your skills to the world. It might take 2 years before you get sort of good at starting a business, but the next 2 years would be a walk in the park because you already know how to fix your mistakes.

Sure, you didn’t get to start your business at 20 years old, but a lot of successful entrepreneurs didn’t become successful until their late 30s or 40s because it took time before they escaped the limited mindset bubble.

All it takes is 20 hours to understand a skill on a comfortable level. Whether you wish to invest those 20 hours learning business, programming, website design, or animation, find the interest that pertains to you the most. From there, spend time everyday working on it. Some skills will be harder to learn than others, but it’s crucial just to go at your own pace.

Accept that you won’t have an overnight victory despite how much you wish for it. If it took the greatest entrepreneurs of our era an estimate of 6 years just to establish their company to what it is today, it will take you just as long if you hold onto that passion and willpower.

Does this mean 6 years is the guarantee time-frame for reaching such success? Certainly not. In reality, it might just take you 4 years before you reach the point you’re aiming for because you read the mistake of other people and avoided them. Maybe instead of 5 hours a day, you decided to work on it 10 – 15 hours per day. Perhaps you have someone guiding you along the way to help you avoid big mistakes, thus helping you reach your goal much faster.

When I give the 6 year destination, that’s the estimate time-frame it takes people before they see the sunlight. And don’t view 6 years as a long time either. Think of it as going to college again. If you’re in your 40s, don’t expect to have a great company until you’re 45 or 46 because by then, you’ll know all the ins and outs. If you’re in your late 20s, expect to be in your early 30s before you be that person everyone seeks.

Besides, if you did reach such as high success point in your early 20s, life would become dull because others will always expect so much from you. Most young successful people often get burnout by the time they reach their 30s or 40s because they often reach a point where they’ve done it all.

Whereas, by actually starting your goals at a much later age, you’ll be at the pinnacle of success everyone would admire. You won’t have to worry about being bored later on in life because you have nothing else to build or create.

You might not be that person who everyone admired for being the youngest richest person, but that’s not important because those type of followers are shallow and void. It’s almost the same as people who temporarily follow and admire children movie stars, only to consider them trash in the future for not maintaining that cute image.

In final thoughts…

A negative trap that gets people is the idea they’re too old to to start their own dreams. They believe there’s an age limit on when they could get a book published, start a business, or learn how to dance. The other day, I saw a vine video of what appeared to be a 100 year old man dancing intensely with a crowd of young people. The day after, I caught a glimpse of an old man who was a bodybuilder. I’m serious. Check out 5 70 years old bodybuilders.

But something important to remind yourself is that life isn’t just about establishing whatever goal you picture in your head. It’s also about exploring the ideas that come across your head. It’s about overcoming your fears whether it’s saying hi to someone or asking someone out on a date. It’s about making yourself vulnerable so you could experience love, joy, and sometimes hate so you could learn how to overcome it.

You may have not done everything on your success list, but it’s never too late to begin. Chances are, you already experienced several other important life lessons that made you the person you are today. If there are writers who finally got their books published at 93 years old, there’s still a heck lot of hope for you. View today as the time you could write a new chapter of your life for a goal you want to achieve.

Need more tips? Check Out:

How to Find Yourself When Life Gets Tough

The 10 Habits of Highly Productive People

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13 Self Development Books that will Transform Your Life