I started working in my teens. First job circa being in university in America included in no particular order

1)Painting Old Buildings

2)Washing Dishes

3)Internships-CoOps

4)Teaching Assistant for a Microsoft course on campus (yes that was a thing)

5)Looking at legal opportunities to make some side income/aka hustle, buying domain names when they cost 50/100$.

Doing work, having responsibility even at a micro scale has taught me more than just education alone. There is both a psyche and mind set one needs to cultivate in their late teens and early twenties to be mindful, wealthy or wealthier in their 30s.

Big Picture Everything:(BPE)

Focus on the macros, the big stuff. Have good habits, be optimistic, don't be a downer, don't complain all the time. Have discussions, meet people, travel even if it's near by. Getting out of your comfort zone is the biggest macro builder.

If your BPE is broken and you are always in a hole, sad, dark, your youth will be wasted in worries.

Find Great Mentors or at the very least Great Inspiration:

Not every one is lucky or has the time or energy to find mentors or invest that time. Also every ones wired differently in people 2 people engagement. Some times just having great inspiration is a good starting point.

If you are looking for mentorship/mentors heres a thread

0-1 vs. 0-100 (Starting Small)

We owe it to our selves to start small but think big. When we consistently don't start because of bid audacious goals without execution rails, we exhaust our selves. We consistently don't start because 100 is a tougher mark than 1, to reach. So start at 0 but aim for 1, then build on it.

Understanding that No One Owes you Shit

This is a key skill to have in your teens and early 20s. If you are a younger brother/sister you know what this feels like. You will always get the harder stuff, the shorter end of the stick, the grind will be real, you need to be prepared to be the intern that makes coffee, but have the macros correct to have the view that once you figure out what coffee every one likes you can scale up to making sure they like the work you produce too. It's a process, some times there are short cuts, but most times there aren't. Be situationally aware, but don't over play your hand. People always remember how you make them feel, use that coffee to make them feel good and work you way up.

Talent alone doesn't cut it(read below)

Over-index on Reading Books

Have your teens and your 20s, dominated by a compulsion of reading. The difference between you and the next gal/guy, is your ability to have more contextual grounding. Invest today. Reap the rewards later.

Outcomes

Todays lesson in better outcomes is simple. How not to sabotage your self. We do it every day. Some distilled stuff for you to reflect on this weekend, so that you can evaluate why your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly outcomes aren't the way you thought they should be. Reflect on:

1) The Amount of time you spend on Social Media

2) The Amount of time you spend dominating conversations

3) The Amount of time you spend bitching and moaning

4) The Amount of time you spend making excuses vs evaluating what you could do differently

5) The Amount of time you spend overthinking and being anxious

6) The Amount of time you spend not being honest with your self

Validation is an inside job, without it, no outcome will ever make you happy.

One New Thing

One woman's story and how outcomes can be shaped by trying and asking.

Boring stuff that Scales

Where are you looking for opportunities? In industries and ideas that will have news papers feature you? Sexy ideas in tech or ground breaking research? You are mis-guided if this is your thought process. Think about the Dull. Stuff no one cares enough about.

Let me share a story. I met an entrepreneur who had three failed ideas and was out on a limb, down to his last 20,000 Rs. Then he decided that during the summer months most average restaurants do not have cold-dessert options. He started making low-end-non-premium ice cream. 5 years in, he supplies 20 Metric tons of white labelled ice-cream to every one and their grand mother.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be considered the best of the best. But only one person can hold that title, by definition. Look for what people wont be gunning for.

I am not talking about giving up your dream especially if you are going to die unfilled if you don't come with a great new EV; a cure for cancer or a social media website for house pets, that you have been dreaming about forever; by all means do it. Even if it is the perfect recipe for the perfect paratha. But know this, there is way more room to play in the dull, non sexy, boring space.

Spend this weekend thinking about dull things that can go from 0-1, then 1-5 and 5-10 that not a lot of people are competing in. That you could grow and scale. Thats the kind of "dull"thinking you need to do to not compete with the Harvard MBAs this weekend. Whilst they fuss over the most premium sandwich to feature at Karachi Eat, do your self a favor, the idea/product/service you have been wanting to take to market, that needs none of the resources beyond your home, kitchen, office, you go ahead and do an MVP. The business website + identity is on me, go to my companies website www.getchikoo.com and get a free website for what ever you want to take to the world and bloody well launch it. Stop thinking about it, and test your boring idea in three steps. Download the Chikoo app, take pictures of your products/set prices, share your newly minted businesses website with all the people who you think could buy from you. When the first order drops in, ship it using bykea or have some one drop it off. The first sale is the hardest. Do it this weekend.

Use the opportunity that most folks will be avoiding public places yet there is a lot of potential demand for comfort food(if thats your niche) Go at it even if it's not. This is the first time, where you do not need to worry about knowing web hosting, getting a domain name, sending sms to confirm orders. Nothing is required besides you finally committing to your boring business. And if you do, ping me on twitter and we will help you scale further!

What you should be reading & watching

Google trends. Yup 100%.

Learn what it is, Learn how to use it. If you aren't curious, what are you?

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/google-trends

Monetize your time

Self discipline is the only answer. Monetize your time or get monetized for your time.

A quote that I love.

To make sure you can monetize your time, the first thing to do is to have a plan. The idea of having nothing to do, of being able to drift through the day acting on our whims and working only when desire or inspiration strikes can seem very appealing. It would as if we were on a permanent holiday, free to act as we chose. Why wouldn’t that seem like a good thing?

The problem is that doing nothing tends not to be very good for us over the medium to long term – we can get benefit from taking rest days and holidays but life tends to require more purpose and structure than this.

Having a planned structure has numerous benefits for your wellbeing and for your work. You know what they say.....'If you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time'. So to monetize your time, you first need to know what you do with it; when you are not monetizing it. You cant have a plan B, a side hustle, a residual income, if you don't have a plan A.

Before you focus on living your best life, figuring out what your current life is, how and what you do and whats left over, is key. You cant improve what you cant measure. So taking stock and measuring your present time is key in monetizing your future time. A lot of people miss this. I get dozens of people messaging & sharing, "my plan B" is not working out . My natural response to that question is, "do you know your plan A?"

So before you move on to plan B, make sure you know what plan A is. Some times its good to get back to basics before we move on to the complex.

Made in Pakistan

Heres a thread that will help discover the hidden gems in this space.

One last thing