If You’re Young, You’re Stupid (How to Fix The Stupidity)
You’re stupid..
If you’re in your 20s
or if you’re still a teenager
Chances are…
You’re pretty stupid!
That’s right, I’m calling you out.
You’re all stupid.
And yes, that includes me being 20 years old.
And no, I won’t apologise because I hurt your feelings.
(But you should still listen to what I have to say; I’ve got a bit of mileage, more than the average 20-year-old, anyway)
I called you stupid because of 3 things.
Reason 1 you’re stupid: You don’t know everything.
Solution?
Listen more
Speak less
Ask questions
Learn from those with mileage
Reflect
Reason 2 you’re stupid: You don’t know what you’re doing with your life.
Solution?
Volunteering your time.
We'll get to reason 3 later, but let me elaborate on volunteering your time:
“Time is money”. Let’s be honest; you don’t know what this means.
If you understood what “time is money” meant, you wouldn’t even need to read this post.
You’d be the most accomplished human in the world, and I WOULD be reading your blog on why I, Tanzeer, am stupid. (Even though I acknowledge I’m stupid)
Nonetheless, you need to start seeing time as currency too. Money isn’t the only currency you will ever own.
And just like money, where you put your time is important. You can use your time to buy things.
The problem is, and this is reason number 3 why I called you stupid:
Young people feel like they deserve the world despite having nothing to offer.
Far too many teens and 20-year-olds I’ve spoken to are in for it just for money.
As soon as I suggest an experience that will have a genuine impact on their lives, the first question tends to be:
”So…how much does it pay per hour?”
Money isn’t the thing you should be chasing.
It should be the skills, the network, the experience.
As Alex Hormozi puts it, you must be in learning season, NOT earning season.
https://x.com/AlexHormozi/status/1603145342429675521?s=20
My experiences with volunteering and why it’s done me wonders.
In 2021, I finished Year 12 with course offers in medicine, computer science and all my preferences.
But I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.
I never knew what a doctor did daily or what a computer scientist did daily.
In 2022, I took a gap year. I wanted to find out what I was getting myself into.
I volunteered at:
Hospitals
Clinics
Developer labs
And it was through volunteering I realised that..
I did NOT like medicine or computer science at all.
There was no way I would spend 5 years in uni and accumulate debt for something I didn't enjoy.
So I started to look for more things and places to volunteer. I wanted to give all my time for free to experience
Then I stumbled across one server I used to be a part of that used to teach people how to learn. Through their program, I could get these course offers, so I felt that I needed to return the favour.
I then spent a lot of time volunteering, giving students free feedback. The feedback centred around how they can improve their work and make their ability to learn more efficient.
And I loved it! Education and empowering learners were rewarding. I was able to see the influence I had on these students. The best part was that I was also able to see the process of transformation in each one of these students.
And eventually, because of my efforts and volunteer time, I was able to land a remote full-time job.
And no, that didn’t come out of thin air or because I was lucky
But because I gave in my time and effort.
I tell you this because it will always be valuable for you to volunteer your time.
You will find out what you like and what you dislike.
You will get to ask professionals in their field questions.
You will develop more perspectives that can enhance your decision-making.
You can expand your network and develop lifelong connections with like-minded individuals.
Here’s your next step if you’re serious about developing yourself. It’s just a 4 step process:
List out your goals (academic, professional and personal.)
Make a list of people, companies and organisations that do the work that you’re interested in doing.
Find their emails and write to them about how you want to volunteer your time.
Do this 100 times; someone will be willing to give you their time.
The worst thing you can do is finish reading this post, click off this post and not do anything.
Just copy and paste the actionables I gave you, try them for yourself and email me how you went (contact@tanzeer.com)
BTW, in the title, I told you that you would be able to fix your stupidity.
The truth is.. you’ll never be able to.
There’s so much out there in the world that we won’t be able to learn it all.
And so, you, me and the rest of the world will remain forever stupid.
Some people are just less stupid than others, I guess…
See you all next week ; )
