12/05/2026
Never use the phrase “work-life balance” in your 20s.
A 25-year-old recently told me was worried about “work-life balance.”
Nope.
Never use that phrase in your 20s.
When you’re that age you have the most amount of time and energy you will ever have.
You also have the least amount of finances and experience.
Use those first two to get more of those second two.
The 20s are your building years. It’s time to go, go, go!
Don’t let a burned out, grumpy 50-year-old tell you to slow down.
Warren Buffett would trade every dollar he has for what you have – time.
Use it fully to do more than just work, work on yourself too.
Join the gym or walk around your neighborhood because that’s free.
Watch less TV than your friends.
Go all in on a hobby that fills you up.
Check your screentime like your life depends on it because what else is life made of other than time?
Volunteer for extra projects at work.
Start a side hustle if your job isn’t paying enough or allowing you to stretch yourself creatively.
Get a mentor.
Wear your library card out.
Create the kind of habits that will serve you for decades.
Only take advice from people who have the kind of life/marriage/career/finances/faith you want. Ignore everybody else.
Collect AI certifications like they were Pokémon.
Work-life balance is a myth no matter what age you are, but it’s especially stupid in your 20s.
You’re a wildly capable generation.
Rise to the occasion, don’t fall to other people’s low expectations.
Question:
What do you wish you’d done more of in your 20s?
Writing by Jon Acuff
