Brutal Advice for my Younger (Poorer) Self

Alright, today I’m gonna read to you an article I wrote. If you want to read the whole article, you can go over to Twitter, find Mesino, and you can read the whole thing there. But I wanted to read this to you guys today because hopefully it brings you some value. So this is brutally honest advice I’d give my younger, poorer self. If you do these five things for three years, it’s gonna absolutely transform your life. I truly wish I had figured these things out a little bit sooner. Number one is to get a roommate. Maybe even three.

I was in such a hurry to be an adult that I jumped into an apartment that I thought I deserved, but in no way, shape or form could afford. And the truth is that living above your means is a trap. It’s a prison you can’t escape so long as your life is filled with things that own you, things you can’t walk away from. And it’s a really important reminder that regardless of where you are in age or on your journey, that the goal is not to look successful, it is to be successful. It’s not to look wealthy. It is to be wealthy. And when you play the status game, that’s what I was playing when I bought that, when I was renting that apartment. It was a status game to try and, you know, impress people who truthfully weren’t even paying attention to me.

And so if I could go back and give my younger self some advice, I’d say, listen, kid, you’re young. Stop dreaming of penthouses and get your ass in the basement and live in the dirt. Now is the time you’re building the foundation of your life. So you should cram as many hungry, ambitious young bucks into one apartment as you can get away with. Live for dirt cheap and get to work building your dreams. Number two, forget dating, at least for now. Because the truth is you’re only going to attract that which you are. And right now, you’re not all that much.
But that’s okay because you’re in building mode. But in the meantime, stop worrying about finding your soulmate and focus instead on becoming the type of person your soulmate would be attracted to. Finding an amazing partner begins by first becoming the type of person who a great partner would want to be with. Also, let’s not forget that dating is expensive and very time consuming. And at this point in your journey, that time, that energy, that money would be way better spent leveling up your experiences, your skills and your resources. All right, number three, ditch the car and get a bike. I recommend moving into the heart of a major city so that you’re within 5 miles from everything you could possibly need. Use a bike or public transportation to get everywhere, because a car, it’s a luxury you can’t afford and you don’t actually need.
And in America, we have this very entitled relationship with vehicles, like we believe we’re entitled to our guns and our cars, right? I never even stopped to question whether or not I needed a car until it was thrust upon me in my life circumstances where I found myself in the back of a 1980 713 passenger van that sounded like it was going to have a heart attack whenever I pushed on the gas. And so I was always terrified when I was living in that van to drive it anywhere. I was afraid it was going to break down, and that wherever it ended up on the side of the road, that was going to become my new home. And so I never drove it anywhere. And out of necessity, that forced me to come up with other solutions, which was riding my bicycle everywhere, going and getting on the bus, getting on the Bay Area, rapid transportation, the bart system. Right? And what I discovered is that owning a vehicle wasn’t only expensive, it was actually less convenient to get around than the alternatives. And so when I discovered that, my life got a lot better because I started saving a lot of money, instead of paying for a car, instead of paying for insurance and having to deal with the time and energy sitting in traffic all the time, I could just sit on the bus and read a book. And I’m really glad that life thrust that upon me.
I had to learn that lesson the hard way, but I’m glad I learned it. If I could go back and tell anything to my younger self would be like, hey, don’t get to the point where you learned this the hard way. Just do it now. You’re going to thank me later. Number four, cancel all your subscriptions that aren’t making you money. And the true savings here isn’t monetary. Like, that’s not insignificant. When you cancel Netflix and.
And Hulu and Disney plus, that’s. That’s not insignificant. But the true value in canceling those subscriptions is that it guards your most valuable asset, which is your focus. And the truth is, at this point in your life, you ain’t got much going for you. So you really don’t need to be making things any harder on yourself than they need to be. Right? So ruthlessly eliminate distractions. Stop turning to entertainment as an escape from your current reality. You can’t change your circumstances by running away from them.
And so we want to be like the buffalo, not the cow. When a storm is approaching over the mountains, the cow sees the storm and runs the opposite direction, tries to outrun or runs in the same direction, tries to outrun the storm. But the storm will eventually catch the cow. And because they’re both moving in the same direction, they will end up spending. The cow will spend more time in the storm than the buffalo. See the buffalo, they see the storm coming, they turn, they face it, and they run towards it because they know it’s going to pass right over them even quicker that way. So you’re going to want to be like the buffalo. Turn around, face the storm and run towards it.
Because after all, the quickest way out is through. So stop turning to entertainment, stop escaping from your reality and do something about it. Number five, stop drinking alcohol. Alcohol is an expense I don’t think anybody can afford. And again, this isn’t just about the monetary savings. The true price of alcohol is the toll it takes on your body and your mind. And I get it. When you’re young, it doesn’t seem like that’s all that big of an expense because you recover so quickly.
But as a good general rule for life, avoid things that make you a lesser version of yourself. There is literally no upside to alcohol beyond how it makes you feel for a few hours. It is an anchor around your neck, simply making the game of life harder than it needs to be. Remember, you’re trying to crawl your way out of the basement, and it’s a long ways up to the penthouse. Those stairs, they get a whole lot easier when you drop the dead weight, when you stop drinking. So stop drinking. Take these other pieces of advice that I’ve shared here, and you’re going to be amazed at how quickly you progress, how quickly things start turning around for you. Now keep going.

I believe in you. Whether you’re young, you’re old. Wherever you are on the journey, take these. Take these pieces of brutal advice to heart. Implement them into your life if you’re not where you want to be, and we’ll see you in the next episode.