I’ve never been a magician with numbers.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten anything higher than a B++ (the extra + for emphasis) in any of my math classes.

But theres always been a number that I’ve been acutely aware with.

It’s a number that’s more often than not surprised people.

It’s a number that motivates me to do better, to do more, to aim higher.

It’s a number that constantly has me on my tippy toes, always dancing around with a sense of urgency.

Can you guess what that number is?

That number is my age.

At 22, with 23 quickly approaching on the horizon, I couldn’t help but reflect back on the past 8 years of my life. Phrases like, “It Just Seemed Like Yesterday, and “Where Did The Time Go?  have been repeated again and again with each passing stages of our lives.

In high school, they told me live it up in college because there will never be a time like that again. And I did.

During my Junior year of college, they told me make the most of my Twenties because there will never be a time like that again. And I am. (or so I hope I am)

But it feels different this time. And the fact is, it is different. Prior to my graduation date back in April, I, along with the rest America have been hand-held and marched through an institutionalized style of learning since we were wittle, tiny, kindergardeners. And it wasn’t until relatively recently where they finally let our hands go…into an opportunistic, competitive, yet awesomely beautiful world. But if there’s ever time to learn from the mistakes of the past, now is the time to correct them and to turn them into workable tools for our mindset.

And what are those mistakes?

Purposely allowing time to be squandered on insignificant investments that in hindsight now, have disintegrated to nothing but a small hole in my monetary, relationship, and memory wallet. In high school, I devoted hours on hours perfecting ways to get a “Headshot” which usually ended in me rage quitting. In college, I made an internal pact with myself to watch every single minute of every single Lakers game. In case you didn’t know, a regular NBA basketball game runs 90 minutes long, (that’s without commercials, stoppage of place, halftime, etc.) so long would be a massive understatement.

But I’d like to think that I’ve grown wiser. To realize that 23 will quickly turn into 24, then 25. And another 5 years, just like it has recently, will fly by again into 30.  And walla! my Twenties will essentially be over.

Now, I do apologize for the depressive tone that I might be painting this timeline with, but I do hope you can understand the deeper objective at hand here.

Each of these next years, all 7 of them, can and will have some of the most significant impacts on our lives moving forward. The habits that we establish, the YOLO trips we take to a foreign country, the careers that we build, the relationships that we get into…all have a certain degree of influence for the rest of our lives.

And what an INCREDIBLE asset it is to have.

We have more time than we ever will to pursue a new hobby, to write a book, to do something uncomfortable…

We have more freedom to become who we want to be, go where we want to go…

We have more room for failure to think in “worst case scenarios” and still be able to recover…

Friends, we have the freaking Internet. We have more access to technology than any other generations before us!

They say that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others’ success because by doing so, we lose perspective and depreciate the good things in our lives. But like anything else in our lives, how we filter that information and use it towards our benefit is up to us. Which for this very reason is why I always get irked when friends tell me that I am doing GREAT for my age. Though I genuinely appreciate their intentions, I just can’t help but gaze in wonderment at this list of:  Forbes 30 Under 30 Who Are Changing The World. Or networking with Stanford undergrads whose drive and mission to build Silicon Valley’s next hottest iPhone app has left me speechless, multiple times. Or gushing over all the inspirational National Geographic travel videos of explorers who go on epic trips to unknown caves. THESE are the people whom I’m placing myself in competition with. These are the people I put my measuring stick against. And why shouldn’t you?

Four questions to consider:

• Define for yourself what the meaning of success is. And ask yourself, “How and What are you going to do in these next years to achieve that definition of success?

• What is the number 1 thing on your mind that you WISH you can do but just don’t have the time/energy/money to do? Now think of the worst case scenario if you ended up doing that. Did it match your expectations?

• Take a look at your current circumstance, every part of it. Now ask yourself WHY you are where you are/you are doing the things you are doing, etc. And now ask yourself WHY four more times till you really dig down into the root of things. (It might scare you)

• Is there someone whom you just admire and just hope you can be some day? Take a look at where they are when they were your age and see if what you are doing now measures up to that.

Friends, just do something with your Twenties and do it to the best of your focused, creative abilities.

Take a risk.

We can’t all stay 22 forever. (Unless you are Taylor Swift… :P)

-AL