A Guide for Young People: What to Do With Your Life

The page says young people cannot figure out the future, because life changes, opportunities change, and many careers did not exist before. It recommends focusing on what is useful now, such as making things, learning skills, making friends, and practicing for whatever may come.

Reading notes

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• The author answers a 15-year-old who feels pressure to choose a future career.
• The future cannot be planned with certainty, because life and opportunities change.
• Useful preparation means doing things that help in any future, such as making things, building things, learning skills, going on adventures, and making friends.
• Getting comfortable with discomfort matters because learning, building, writing, marriage, and endurance are hard.
• Getting comfortable with uncertainty matters because important projects often require acting without knowing how they will turn out.
• Distraction and procrastination are treated as ways of avoiding discomfort.
• Meditation and blogging are presented as ways to understand how the mind works.
• Making money is framed as a skill that requires earning trust and communicating value.
• Saving an emergency fund and investing in an index fund are recommended after earning money.
• Building something small over time, like a sketch, a web app, a blog, a video channel, or a cookie business, leaves visible results and skills.
• Trustworthiness is built by showing up on time, doing good work, being honest, admitting mistakes, and meeting deadlines.
• If young people prepare in these ways, they are more ready to seize or create opportunities.
• The closing point is that preparation matters more than knowing a fixed life plan right now.