Whether or not you've made your dreams come true by the time you're 30, there are plenty of pieces of life advice that we all wish we could give to our younger selves, but what would they be?
That was the question that Philip Guo, Assistant Professor of Computer Science University of Rochester, who wanted to ask around 160 of his friends what they would say to themselves in their 20s if they had the chance.
His survey posed two questions: "Compared to around a decade ago, when you were 20 years old, what do you think you have more of now?" and "Compared to around a decade ago, when you were 20 years old, what do you think you have less of now?", and the responses were fairly interesting. In response to the first question, the answers ranked as follows:
- confidence (most popular)
- patience
- expertise
- independence
- responsibilities
When asked what they had less of in their 30s than their earlier days, the five most popular answers were:
- free time (most popular)
- physical energy
- desire for novelty
- social interactions with friends
- opportunities to make new friends
It should be noted that the group that Guo asked were all college graduates and the majority of them were high achievers and PhD holders. He also asked that they not refer to material things in their answers, so the results may be influenced by that, but it still makes for interesting reading.
One of the more surprising results was that over a dozen people mentioned that they had more money now than they did when they were younger, but one of those who stated that added "I wish I went into more debt in college. A dollar now brings less happiness compared to a dollar back then".
So, if you had some advice for your 20-something self, what would you tell them? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us and tell us.
Via i100. Main pic via Solo, with others/Flickr
