- "The Defining Decade: Why Your 20's Matter and How to Make The Most of Them Now": it motivated me to find a fulfilling a career in tech (among other things).
- "On the Shortness of Life" (Seneca) - Really made me take a hard look at my life, for the better.
- "Eat and Run" - Interesting read about an Ultramarathoner. Inspired me to find the motivation for doing "tough things" in general.
Defining your life and happiness by measuring professional success is a very likely way to be unhappy. I'd recommend ignoring the book and live your life in whatever way brings meaning to you.
Have read the book, took most of the advice, have gone trilingual, have gone fit and healthy, reached 6 digit salary, gone on most of the places I wanted to visit. Im almost done with 20s. Still feel lost as hell
Would the first book be valuable for someone in their late 20's? I'm fairly happy with what I've done this decade, but maybe I could apply the relevant stuff to my 30s...
I really enjoyed the book (although I read when I was well beyond the recommended age group). I wrote about it a while ago [1], and I think it can be still valuable for someone in their 30s (or, if you have kids, it will be valuable for them one day).
Short answer: yes, and even if you were in your 30s.
Long answer: the sooner you read it the better, but any time is better than never. There was a great metaphor early in the book, actually. I don't have a copy on hand so to paraphrase: your life is like a cross-continent flight. If you want to change your destination, earlier on is better--the plane need only make a slight adjustment at the beginning to alter its trajectory significantly. Closer to the end, and you gotta make a pretty sharp turn.
It's not the perfect metaphor but for me personally it really resonated.
Especially if you're fairly happy at your late 20's, any adjustments you might discover you want to make probably aren't that far off :)
- "The Defining Decade: Why Your 20's Matter and How to Make The Most of Them Now": it motivated me to find a fulfilling a career in tech (among other things).
- "On the Shortness of Life" (Seneca) - Really made me take a hard look at my life, for the better.
- "Eat and Run" - Interesting read about an Ultramarathoner. Inspired me to find the motivation for doing "tough things" in general.