Stepping into your 20s feels like being handed a blank canvas without knowing where to start. There’s this mix of excitement and dread, so many possibilities, yet so much uncertainty. As a student, I often find myself asking whether I’m on the right path, whether the choices I’m making now will hold meaning later. These thoughts can be paralyzing, but they’ve also taught me something valuable: this phase of life isn’t just about finding answers, it’s about learning to live with the questions.
The abundance of options in front of us can feel overwhelming. There are countless paths to take, skills to learn, and opportunities to chase. And while that abundance is a gift, it can also be a source of pressure. How do you know which choice is the right one? I’ve realized there’s no perfect answer. In fact, mistakes are inevitable, but they’re also crucial. They force us to adapt, reflect, and grow in ways we never could if everything went according to plan.
One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is that focus matters. Not the kind of focus where you shut out the world, but the kind where you decide deliberately where your energy goes. In a world that constantly demands more, it’s easy to spread yourself too thin, to jump from one thing to the next without ever going deep enough to truly understand or create something meaningful. Depth is where the magic happens. When you stop skimming the surface and dive into a subject, a skill, or even a problem, you begin to uncover layers of insight that others miss.
But there’s a balance to strike. It’s easy to get lost in the pursuit of depth, wandering down endless rabbit holes without a clear sense of purpose. I think of it like navigating a dense forest: you need to explore, but you also need a compass to keep you oriented. That compass, for me, is curiosity. It’s what pushes me to ask questions and dive deeper but also reminds me not to lose sight of the bigger picture.
Curiosity, I’ve found, is one of the most underrated forces in life. It doesn’t demand immediate results or predefined goals. It simply nudges you toward what feels interesting, opening doors you didn’t even know existed. In Tim Urban’s essay on career choices, he talks about the “That Looks Interesting” approach—following threads of curiosity without worrying too much about where they’ll lead. It’s a mindset I’m trying to adopt, trusting that exploration itself is a valuable act, even if it doesn’t immediately pay off.
This approach has helped me reframe how I think about success. We’re often told that success is about efficiency, about maximizing output and minimizing waste. But I’ve come to see that true learning and growth require inefficiency. They require mistakes, detours, and moments of doubt. Paul Graham’s writing emphasizes this beautifully: the idea that mastery and passion aren’t prerequisites for starting something but outcomes of sustained effort and curiosity. You don’t begin by loving something, you learn to love it by getting good at it and seeing the impact it can have.
It’s easy to get caught up in trends, to chase what’s popular because it feels like the safe or smart thing to do. But the more I try to follow the crowd, the less fulfilled I feel. Success, I think, comes from pursuing things that genuinely excite you, even if they don’t align with what everyone else is doing. It’s about finding your own rhythm, even if that means going against the grain.
There’s a trap, though, in thinking that once you’ve “figured it out,” everything will fall into place. It’s tempting to believe that happiness or fulfillment will come after you land the perfect job or achieve a specific goal. But that mindset keeps you stuck in a cycle of waiting, always looking to the next milestone for satisfaction. The truth is, life doesn’t start when you achieve something, it’s happening right now, in the messy, uncertain middle of figuring things out.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that embracing uncertainty is a skill in itself. It’s scary to not know where you’re heading, to put effort into something without a guarantee it’ll work out. But that’s also what makes it exciting. Life isn’t a straight line; it’s more like a series of experiments. Some will fail, some will succeed, and all of them will teach you something valuable.
We’re often told to find our passion, but that advice feels incomplete. Passion isn’t something you stumble upon, it’s something you build. It grows out of curiosity, effort, and a willingness to stick with something long enough to see its deeper value. The process isn’t always glamorous, but it’s rewarding in ways that chasing trends or external validation never could be.
As I write this, I’m reminded of something simple yet profound: we’re young, and we have time. Time to explore, to fail, and to learn. We don’t have to have it all figured out right now. What matters is that we keep going, keep asking questions, and stay open to what life has to teach us.
So if you’re feeling lost, overwhelmed, or unsure, know that you’re not alone. We’re all navigating this uncertainty together. And maybe, just maybe, that’s the point.
Here are some useful resources if you want to dive deeper into this topic:
Paul Graham’s blog
Wait But Why by Tim Urban
More To That
For technical insights and career advice:
Dalton & Michael Podcast on YC’s YouTube Channel
ThePrimeagen's Channel - always inspiring