Turning 30 | 6 of the BIGGEST Life lessons from my 20s

The Harding Letter

22nd Nov 2023

On the 8th April 2023 I turned 30.

Through the last decade of life experiences, making mistakes, solving problems and aspiring to live my best life.

I found these 6 incredible life lessons.

So, if you’re in your 20s, looking for guidance and direction, this letter/blog post may be for you.

Lets dive into it.

The Problem

The biggest overall element I’ve struggled with in my life is CLARITY. 

Here are some questions I’ve asked myself when trying to solve this problem:

• What should I invest my time into? 

• Where is my life supposed to be based in the world?

• Who is involved in that said life?  

Another massive question I would ask myself:  

“If today was your last day on earth, how would you spend it?”

I would reply:

• Connecting with family & friends 

• Travel experiences 

• Meeting great people 

• Being creative & innovative

Answering these questions would lead me to learn this following life lessons.

6 of the BIGGEST life lessons from my 20’s

1. Trial & test as much as you can

I’ve gone from moving cities, states, countries in pursuit of a better life. 

A life that makes me truly happy. 

Happiness can depend on so many different life factors. 

• Your health

• Your lifestyle

• The weather

• Your relationships

• Your wealth/income

• Your opportunities & more

Life examples

If didn’t trial & test so many different variables, I wouldn’t have understood the contrast between these life factors.

I wouldn’t see the clarity of my life situation now.

For example, how I value the sunny blue skies in Perth, WA.

To when I lived in rain, snow & freezing temperatures.

How I’ve worked on minimum wage in a job I hate.

To working in a vibrant industry I like with high hourly pay rates.

Action points: 

• Don’t be afraid to try the unknown!

Helpful tips:

Within the failures of your actions, will be deep lessons. 

And with deep lessons comes growth!

Be aware of these when they present themselves. 

Thus making you more conscious of how to approach in future times. 

2. If something doesn’t work, adapt , pivot & move on

Don’t become static when something goes wrong.

Accept it, understand why it failed.  

Find a way to adapt to the situation.

Then pivot in a way that moves you forward.

For example my business took 3 years to figure out.

I first started with a subscription video on demand (SVOD) service in the travel industry.

Then I tried to sell low ticket info products in the travel niche.

UPDATE:
Then I realised if I’m going to dedicate all this precious time to a form of business.

It’s got to be something that can evolve over time and gives me flexibility to talk about my interests.

That’s when I created my personal brand under “Benjamin Harding”.

This made SO MUCH sense too because the YouTube channel was growing every day.

Action points: 

• Focus on one thing to start 
  
  If your attention is on 5 different things it’ll be so much harder to progress (as your attention is dispersed) 

  Your brain has a limited “bandwidth” every day.
  

• Try to apply focus & energy to the high leverage activities first. 

  The tasks that are really going to move you forward.

  
  Remember though, you’re human, not a robot, there’s nothing wrong with failure & trying things.
  

  What’s more important is the steps you take after the failure.

3. Double down on your interests

Why? 

If you’re interested in what your doing, you’re more likely to show up for it.

This means your more likely to be consistent in your routine with what you’re doing

Examples: 

• I’ve learnt this massively with creating videos for my YT channel 

• Started as a passion project, it’s grown over time both in structure & by online entity

• I show up for it every day because I love what it represents & can be

• And how I envision it to help humanity down the line 

• How other travellers can resonate with its core value & its meaning 

By now you may be thinking, but Benny I don’t know what I like.

“What do I choose or what direction do I go?”

This is when we come back to number 1 my friend.

With trial & testing til you find something that’s resonates with you & your being.

Don’t be worried about time.

Be aware & conscious of the time. 

Remember, you can only work on the present, what’s happening now.

EVERYONE has their own unique journey.

And their own speed on how they progress through life.

Don’t compare your journey to theirs.

This will not help you.

This will demotivate you. 

Focus on YOU.

Action points: 

• Try all different types of hobbies

  Sports, creative works like painting, filming, travel, hiking, music,

  Literary work: writing, reading, publishing 

• Find a way to stimulate your four core modes for manifestation
  Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually

• Notice how you feel when you participate in them.

  Listen to what you feel more inclined too.

• When you find your medium, expand the horizons on which you develop it.

4. Consume helpful knowledge consistently

Why? 

The power of education is crucial to success in most fields! 

In todays world we have an abundance of it at our fingertips.

It’s called the internet.

Examples:

I use YouTube & Spotify podcasts for education online.

Yes there’s a mix of both distraction & helpful knowledge with YouTube 

But thats where you trial and test to see what helps in your life.

It’s free, use it to your advantage! 

Search for creators that you like, see if their channels help you.

I share my YouTube videos on a podcast so subscribers can listen on their walks, in the car & around their daily routine.

This is how “The Harding Cast” was born.

Listening to podcasts have helped me massively.

For both my personal & professional development

I also read books for education offline.

These are books on a mixture of topics that i’m interested in.

Action points: 

• Read books on topics that interest you 

• Watch education videos on YouTube (that solve your problem)

• Learn from those that came before you and how they was successful in what they achieved 

• Speak to people about their trial & lived experiences

• Speak to me about mine, any time you like, comment section or DMS 

• Treat life as a form of apprenticeship (shoutout Robert Greene)  

• Study from mentors that you aspire to be like (shoutout Dan Koe & Alex hormozi) 

• Don’t be a copy cat & mimic other people. Find way to put your own unique spin on it, your own perspective. That’s when it becomes significant to you! 

5. Gain skills in multiple areas that support one another

Why? 

This is SOO powerful when you need to adapt & pivot.

This is when you become more generalised instead of specialised.

You can help support more brands, more businesses, more people.

If one job fails (which some of mine have)

You fall back on your skills & abilities to find another job you can do.  

Thats what I did with the hospitality industry.

Learning multiple skills can lead onto more opportunities.

In work life, personal life, in your relationships, in your health & wellbeing. 

Examples: 

• Filming videos back in 2019 has helped me master the skills of speaking, its helped me meet new people and make authentic connections

• The video creation also supports my full time jobs (talking about self-development)

• The transferable skills I’ve learnt and practiced

• Experience in many industries

• I build my personal brand on the side whilst working full time in my bar job

Action points: 

• Make a list of the jobs you find interesting

• What skills would you need to do that job successfully? 

• How can you practice them & gain experience with them 

• How can you pick ones that support each other? 

  Eg. Video creation (skill) + marketing (skill) 

  Eg. Building relationships (skill) + online business 

• Eg. Adaptability (skill) + communication (skill) 

That last ones a BIG one if your relocating & travelling around a lot.

6. Diversify your mindset & travel as much as you can!

Why ? 

I am super biased on this one because I’ve seen what can become reality.

We go through different apprenticeship phases in life. 

One being our environmental parental upbringing.

Learning how our parents live life, work for a living.

At school we’re taught the basics to prepare us for life after. 

Then we go into work, we learn from our managers & mentors but in order to grow we need to walk our own path. 

We need to experiment.

We need to put this knowledge to good use. 

We may struggle with that when life is seen as uncertain and unknown.

The fears, pains & insecurities will happen.

“What if I leave tomorrow & can’t figure out what to do?”

Since the dawn of time, we have had two opposites, the polarities.
Adam & Eve

Ying & Yang

North & South

West & East

Chaos & order. 

Uncertainty & certainty. 

Unknown & known.

(Shoutout Jordan B Peterson - 12 Rules For Life)

You can’t have one without the other. 

If you did, they wouldn’t exist. 

There wouldn’t be the contrast.

Life would not be balanced.

When you become aware of this, more conscious of this, you let the unknown be. 

I feel more present in my travel & my life because I understand this reality. 

Shit happens, to all of us 8 billion humans.  

Question is, when it does happen - what’s going to be your next step?

Examples: 

I have learnt SO MUCH VITAL life lessons from my travels 

• Responsibility, consistency, commitment, resilience, perseverance, patience, confidence 

• I believe that everyone on the planet has their own unique perspective on life, and that may be very different to yours  

• Different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, work & leisure life balance

• Being open to learning about other mindsets and experiences

• That brings in one my faves attributes into the light - CURIOSITY 

• Validate it, question it, find out the why 

• And if it’s something that could help you shape your ideal reality 

• If it is, then ask the how 

Action: 

• Write a list of goals you want to achieve 

• What types of mentors would help get you there faster? 

• What type of investment would you need to input 

• Investment in your time (most precious commodity) 

And there we go!

Thats all 6! Thank you so much for reading

Hope you’ve enjoyed this letter and we see you in the next one!

Have a great week! (:

Vast Love

- Benjamin Harding