When you're young, the world is your oyster and opportunities seem endless, but there can be a lot of pressure to decide on a life path. How do you know what career to pursue and what to do with your future?

This post originally appeared on Zen Habits.

I recently had a 15-year-old write to me, and ask about figuring out what to do with her life:



What an extremely tough thing to figure out: what to do with your future! Now, I can't really know exactly what this young woman should do, but I can share what I've learned looking back on my life, and what I would tell my kids (the oldest is 21 and still figuring things out, but I also have 17- and 16-year-old boys and a 14-year-old girl). Here's what I'd say.

You Can't Figure Out the Future

Even young people who have a plan (to be a doctor, lawyer, research scientist, singer) don't really know what will happen. If they have any certainty at all, they're a bit deluded. Life doesn't go according to plan, and while a few people might do exactly what they set out to do, you never know if you're one of those. Other things come along to change you, to change your opportunities, to change the world. The jobs of working at Google, Amazon, or Twitter, for example, didn't exist when I was a teenager. Neither did the job of Zen Habits blogger.



Learn to Be Good with Discomfort

One of the most important skills you can develop is being okay with some discomfort. The best things in life are often hard, and if you shy away from difficulty and discomfort, you'll miss out. You'll live a life of safety.

Learning is hard. Building something great is hard. Writing a book is hard. A marriage is hard. Running an ultra-marathon is hard. All are amazing.

If you get good at being accustomed to a little discomfort, you can do anything. You can start a business, which you couldn't if you're afraid of discomfort, because starting a business is hard and uncomfortable.


Learn to Be Good with Uncertainty

A related skill is thriving in uncertainty. Starting a business, for example, is an amazing thing to do, but if you're afraid of uncertainty, you'll skip it. You can't know how things will turn out, and so if you need to know how things will turn out, you'll avoid great projects, businesses, opportunities.

But if you can be okay with not knowing, you'll be open to many more possibilities. I've written previously about becoming more comfortable with uncertainty.



Overcome Distraction and Procrastination


Actually, distraction and procrastination are just ways of avoiding discomfort, so if you get good at discomfort you're way ahead of most people. But there are some things you can practice and ways to beat procrastination.

Learn More about Your Mind


Learn about how your mind works, and you'll be much better at all of this. For me, the best ways are meditation and blogging. With meditation (read how to do it) you watch your mind jumping around, running from discomfort, rationalizing. With blogging, you are forced to reflect on what you've been doing in life and what you've learned from it. It's a great tool for self-growth, and I recommend it to every young person.

Do Paid Work and Save Money


And you get better with practice.

I worked as a clerk at a bank and then a freelance sports writer when I was in high school, and those were valuable experiences for me. And if you can make enough, save an emergency fund, then start investing your earnings in an index fund and watch it grow over your lifetime.

Build Something, Even If It's Small

Most people fritter their time away on things that don't matter, like TV, video games, social media, and reading the news. A year of that and you have nothing to show for it. But if you did a sketch every day, or started writing a web app, or created a blog or a video channel that you update regularly, or started building a cookie business, at the end of a year you'll have something great. And some new skills. Something you can point to and say, "I built that." Which most people can't do.


Become Trustworthy and Build Your Reputation



Always Be Ready for Opportunities

If you do all of the above, or at least most of it, you'll be amazing. You'll be way, way ahead of pretty much every other person—especially if you're a teenager like the one who wrote me with this question. And opportunities will come your way, if you have your eyes open: job opportunities, a chance to build something with someone, an idea for a startup that you can build yourself, a new thing to learn and turn into a business, the chance to submit your new screenplay.

These opportunities might come along, and you have to be ready to seize them. Take risks—that's one of the advantages of being young. And if none come along, create your own.




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


Image by alphaspirit (Shutterstock). Photos by Jeff Kubin (Flickr), Steven Depolo (Flickr), Scott Akerman (Flickr), and Nina Helmer (Flickr).

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