If You're in Your 20s — Take More Risks

Hey Friend,

Picture a tree in your backyard.

When it's young — maybe just a few years old — you can bend its branches with your bare hands.

You can shape it. Guide it.

Even if you snap a branch trying, it'll grow back stronger, in a new direction.

But try that same thing with a 40-year-old oak?

You'd need a chainsaw. And even then, you're not shaping it — you're just cutting away what's already set in stone.

That tree is your life.

And right now, in your 20s, you're still bendable.

I know that might not feel empowering. Maybe it even feels vulnerable.

Like you haven't "hardened" into the person you're supposed to be yet.

But here's what I've learned after watching thousands of people transform their lives: that flexibility isn't a weakness. It's your single greatest asset.

Let me take you somewhere for a second.

Imagine you're standing in front of two doors.

Behind Door 1: You take the risk. You start the business, make the move, have the hard conversation, try the thing that's been whispering to you at 2am.

It might work beautifully. It might fall apart.

But either way, you'll walk out of that room a different person — sharper, wiser, more capable.

Behind Door 2: You play it safe. You stay in the job that's "fine." You don't make the move.

You wait for permission, for the perfect moment, for more certainty.

And here's the thing — it won't feel bad at first. It'll feel responsible. Mature even.

But here's what nobody tells you about Door 2:

Ten years from now, you'll stand in front of those same two doors again.

Same choice. Same fear.

Except now you'll have more responsibilities.

Maybe a family. A reputation in your industry. A whole ecosystem of people depending on your stability.

And that choice that feels hard now? It'll feel impossible then.

The cost of the risk won't have changed. But your ability to absorb it will have shrunk dramatically.

The risk still stays the same but your life gets Heavier

And that's what haunts people.

Not because it ruined them. But because they never got to see what could have been. And that question mark never really goes away.

You know what I've never heard?

I've never heard someone say, "Man, I really regret trying that thing in my 20s."

Even the ones who failed spectacularly — they wear it like armor now.

It's proof they weren't afraid to bet on themselves.

Here's the truth:

Your 20s aren't about avoiding mistakes. They're about making mistakes while they're still cheap.

Think of it like investing. You know how financial advisors tell you to take more risks when you're young?

Because you have time to recover, time to compound, time to let the winners make up for the losers?

Your life works the exact same way.

Every risk you take, every failure you survive, every pivot you make — it's all compound interest on the person you're becoming.

That side project that flops? You just learned what doesn't work. That's not failure.

That's eliminated options. You're closer to the answer.

That job you quit that wasn't the dream you hoped?

You just clarified what you actually value. That's not wasted time. That's data.

That relationship that didn't work out?

You just discovered what you need. That's not loss. That's direction.

The people who win in their 30s and 40s aren't the ones who got it right the first time. They're the ones who got it wrong the most times in their 20s.

So I want you to try something with me.

Close your eyes for a second and imagine you're 45. You're looking back at right now — this exact moment — and you're watching yourself stand at a crossroads.

What does that future version of you want you to do?

Take the risk? Or play it safe?

I'll tell you what I've learned: Future You is always cheering for you to try.

To leap. To say yes to the thing that scares you.

Because Future You already knows something you don't yet:

The risks you take won't break you.

The risks you don't take will haunt you.

Listen — I'm not saying quit your job tomorrow and move to Bali. I'm not saying be reckless.

I'm saying this: What's one small risk you could take this week?

One conversation. One application. One project. One uncomfortable email.

Something that makes your palms a little sweaty but your heart beat faster.

Do that.

And then next week, do it again.

Because here's the secret nobody tells you: Courage isn't something you find.

It's something you build. One small risk at a time.

You're in the season where failure costs the least and teaches the most.

Your 20s are your laboratory. Your training ground.

Your chance to become the person who doesn't flinch when life asks something hard of you.

Don't waste it waiting for perfect.

Perfect never comes.

Your future self is counting on you.

With you, always,
Uthman