20s Maxxing

The key archetypes for making the most of your 20s

The hardest part of your 20s (for many people) is knowing, or rather deciding, what you should be doing. Any age period prior to this was decided for you by the education system, and your time outside of it was spent on ‘being a kid’ – something as children we do not need to consciously focus on to do successfully: our intuition and pure trust in following that is still intact at this point.

Once you get to your 30s you know you should be looking to settle down and start a family. And that therefore sets you up nicely in knowing what you should be doing in your 40s, 50s, and beyond to a large extent; caring for, providing for and enjoying time with that which you have created.

Your 20s is the part no one really gives you a script on – apart from society’s of course; go to university, get your graduate scheme, buckle down to the 9 – 5, pay your taxes, let your dreams wither and die.

You will hear a plethora of advice from self-help gurus as to what to do with your 20s. Some will tell you to start a business. Some will tell you to go travelling. Some will tell you to accumulate as much knowledge and as many skills as possible. Some will tell you to date around. Some will tell you to avoid the distraction of dating. Some will tell you to live it up and have a good time. Some will tell you to knuckle down and work harder than you ever have before or ever will after.

At 26 (and a half) years old, I myself am right in the thick of the fog. Over the past couple of weeks however, I have gained what I believe to be clarity on what your 20s are - and indeed should be. Since I turned 20 I have been a student, worked the corporate 9 – 9, the office 9 – 5, been unemployed, been self-employed. I have had periods in relationships, times dating, and times without either. I have lived in the city and lived in the country. I have travelled a fair amount. I have embarked on a variety of completely unrelated endeavours and projects, whilst holding wildly differing occupations.

I have my end goals and visions in mind. I have my north star, my purposes and principles. It is these which guide my decision making and the path I walk - everything I do is in service to them. However as the saying goes, there is more than one road which leads to them. Looking back on my decisions thus far, as organised and logical as they have felt, they are really the results of me experimenting as to how I want to get to the destination. Your 20s should be you figuring out how you want to live beyond them.

Your 20s should not just be about experimenting to find out what you like. It’s deeper than that. Your 20s should be about having as much adventure as possible to find out who you are. Only through knowing yourself can you live in accordance with yourself. And only through immense internal adventure (which is achieved through the external) can you truly know yourself.

‘Adventure’ is a somewhat vague concept though. There is ‘adventure’ in many things that are not worth doing and should not be done - if at all helped. So here are the archetypes for you as a man in your 20s to have the greatest adventure possible…