I’m 27. If You’re 16-26, Read This.
26 lessons to get ahead of 99% in 2026
I’m 27.
In my short time on Earth:
I made a lot of mistakes
I have done some things right
I learned a lot of valuable lessons
In this newsletter, I want to share the 26 best lessons I learned to help you get ahead of 99% in 2026.
1. Nobody has it all figured out
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
– Socrates
Everyone is just figuring it out as they go.
Most people waste years waiting for clarity. But clarity only comes from action.
You don’t think your way into progress, you move your way into it.
Each step gives you feedback. Each mistake gives you data. That’s how you improve.
The ones who win aren’t the ones who know the most.
They’re the ones who keep going when they don’t know enough.
2. Simplicity is profundity
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
– Leonardo da Vinci
Most people confuse complexity with intelligence. They add more to prove they know more. But true mastery shows up in subtraction, not addition. It’s about removing what doesn’t matter so you can focus fully on the few things that matter.
Charlatans use complexity to hide their lack of understanding. The truly intelligent make things simple.
– Naval Ravikant
Simplicity isn’t the absence of depth. It’s the result of understanding something so deeply that you can express it clearly. The better you understand it, the simpler you can explain it. The simpler you explain it, the better others will understand it.
Average people admire complexity. Smart people admire simplicity. It’s easy to keep something complex. It’s hard to make something simple. Simplicity is true intelligence.
3. Tiny changes will change your life
Getting 1% better will change your life.
Getting 1% worse will ruin your life.
This is because of compounding.
The Atomic Habits graph illustrates this best:
Tiny changes will change or ruin your life.
4. You don’t need a lot to be happy
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
– Epictetus
Modern life trains you to measure success by possessions instead of peace.
That’s why most people get stuck by chasing the wrong things. They buy stuff they don’t need to impress people they don’t like. But true wealth isn’t owning more, it’s wanting less.
In my experience, you only need a few things to be happy:
Good food
Meaningful work
A nice place to live
Control over your work
A hobby that excites you
Financial stability (or freedom)
Workouts and walks (ideally in nature)
Good relationships with partner, friends and family
Good books, podcasts, and other educational content
Almost everything else is noise. Focus on what matters to you.
5. The best productivity hack is saying no
The best code is no code at all.
– Jeff Atwood
Most people think that it’s rude to say no. I strongly disagree. Saying yes or no isn’t about being kind. It’s about time management. And time management is about spending your time in the best way. And the best way is the one you enjoy, that helps the people closest to you, and that brings you closer to your goals.
Every time you say yes, it should:
Bring you closer to your goals
Help the people important to you
Be something you actually want to do
Because here’s what most people don’t realize:
Every time you say yes to something, you automatically say no to everything else you could do with that time and energy. So you may think it’s rude to say no to one thing, but if you say yes you actually say no to everything except that one thing.
Saying no is a decision, saying yes creates a new obligation.
Saying no saves you time, saying yes costs you time.
Every ‘yes’ is a ‘no’ to everything that’s not that thing. So you should get clear on what you want out of life. Once you know your priorities, you’ll know what to say yes to.
So it’s not rude to say no. It’s the ultimate productivity hack.
6. Social media is a double-edged sword
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.
– Socrates
Social media can either ruin your life or it can make it significantly better.
It will ruin your life if you use it:
To argue
To compare
To hate on others
To scroll mindlessly
It will improve your life if you use it:
To build
To create
To help others
To consume mindfully
Social media is a tool. The tool itself is neutral. Just like a knife can be used to prepare a great meal for your family or to commit a crime. The knife isn’t good or bad, but the way you use it is. How you use the tool determines if it’s positive or negative.
If you use it to grow an audience, it will change your life for the better.
If you use it to argue and scroll mindlessly, it will change your life for the worse.
Choose wisely.
7. Don’t try to change other people
I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.
– Socrates
You can change yourself. And other people can change themselves.
But you can’t change other people. Trying to do so will cost you a lot of energy and it’ll only make you feel frustrated.
Don’t do this to yourself. Focus on improving yourself. Help others if they want your help, but don’t try to change others. It’s a waste of time and energy.
8. You aren’t your thoughts
The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the thinker.
– Eckhart Tolle
I’ve been meditating 10-20 minutes per day almost daily for 8 years now.
The main benefit that this gave me is that I realized that I’m not my thoughts. I’m the observer of my thoughts.
Mindfulness meditation create space between you and your thoughts. The more mindful you become, the more you notice that there’s a gap between the thought and the thinker. The thought comes up randomly, the thinker observer the thought.
You are the thinker, not your thoughts. There’s a big difference.
9. People pay money to solve problems
I’m a full-time creator, but the first 2 years of my journey I struggled to make money online. This was because I didn’t understand how making money worked.
Here’s the simplified explanation: you make money by solving people’s problems.
Money is made when value is created.
Value is created when pain is alleviated
Pain is alleviated when problems are solved
Problems are solved when critical information is applied
People don’t buy products or services, they buy solutions to their problems.
They don’t want a plane ticket, they want a vacation
They don’t want a diet plan, they want a body transformation
They don’t want a business course, they want to earn $10K/mo writing online
Sell them what they want, then give them what they need to get what they want.
10. Consistency is the ultimate unfair advantage
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
– Aristotle
Most people quit during the bitter part. They expect results before they’ve earned them. But growth doesn’t happen as fast as you want. It takes time, practice, and most importantly: a lot of patience.
Patience isn’t waiting and doing nothing. It’s waiting while doing the work.
Anyone can start with excitement. Only a small percentage can get results.
That’s why it’s easy to outcompete 90% of people.
Just show up every day for 5+ years.
11. Ignore hustle culture, rest properly
Your body is like a phone battery.
It takes days to drain the battery, but only hours to recharge it.
Unless you use it a lot, but you get my point.
If you never recharge it, it stops working.
Your body and mind work the same.
Hustle culture has brainwashed us into believing that working all the time is somehow optimal. But this is simply wrong (believe me, I tried).
I wish it weren’t, but if you don’t rest, you won’t be able to work properly anymore.
Relaxing isn’t enough to rest, you need something called Active Recovery.
Active recovery is any deliberate, low-intensity activity that helps the body and brain return to baseline after high performance.
– Steven Kotler
Active recovery doesn’t always feel good during, but it makes you feel much better after. It clears stress, recharges your nervous system, and prevents burnout.
Here’s a list of the most important (active) recovery habits:
Sauna
Walking
Massages
Journaling
Breathwork
Light exercise
Social interaction
Yoga or stretching
Practicing gratitude
Spending time in nature
Cold showers & ice baths
Meditation & mindfulness
Sleep & NSDR (non-sleep deep rest)
Also eat healthy and work out regularly.
If you do these things, you’ll actually recover mentally (instead of just relaxing).
You don’t need to do them all, but the more you do, the better you’ll recover.
Pick the ones you enjoy most and make them part of your routine.
12. Discipline is a choice
Discipline equals freedom.
– Jocko
I get annoyed when people say:
“I just don’t have discipline.”
They talk about it like it’s a genetic (like hair color or height).
But this is wrong.
Sure, it might be easier for some people than for others.
But everybody can choose to be disciplined.
It’s not about having a certain gene.
It’s about choosing to do what you know you need to do despite how you feel.
Saying “I don’t have discipline” is just a way to avoid responsibility.
It’s an excuse not to take action.
But everybody can choose to be disciplined. And when you do, it will set you free.
13. Take 100% responsibility for your life
The purpose of life is finding the largest burden that you can bear and bearing it.
– Jordan Peterson
Motivational speakers often say:
“Everything is your fault.”
I disagree with the statement, but I agree with the sentiment.
Not everything is your fault.
You don’t pick your place of birth, family, weaknesses, insecurities, and genetics.
But everything is still your responsibility to deal with. Even if it’s hard and unfair. Or rather, especially if it’s hard and unfair. Because nobody is coming to save you.
Not your parents. Not your friends. Not your teachers. Not your government. Nobody.
It’s all on you. And sometimes, it’s extremely unfair, difficult, and frustrating. But this doesn’t change the fact that it’s 100% your responsibility to deal with.
You don’t control the cards you’re dealt. You do control how you play them.
And I can guarantee you that no matter how bad your cards are, there are people with similar cards who still managed to win big.
Winners don’t complain about the hand they’re dealt. They just take responsibility and play it to the best of their ability.
14. Control your mind to control your life
You have power over your mind - not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength.
– Marcus Aurelius
You don’t control:
Events
The past
Genetics
Other people
The economy
External opinions
You do control:
Your focus
Your effort
Your habits
Your attitude
Your thoughts
Your reactions
Your decisions
Your discipline
Your interpretations
Focus on what you can control. Accept what you can’t control.
15. Don’t chase money, chase freedom
Making money is nice. Having full control over your time is nicer.
Money is just a tool. Freedom is the most valuable thing it can give you.
Freedom to control your time
Freedom to control your work
Freedom to control your lifestyle
Freedom to control your location
Freedom to control your schedule
You can still buy nice stuff. But prioritize freedom first.
The goal of money isn’t to buy stuff. It’s to not have people buy your time.
16. Limit your desires
Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.
– Naval
Desire implies that you lack something.
The more desires you have, the more unhappy you’ll be with your life.
So to be happier, limit your desires to the 1-3 most important things you want.
Drop the rest. It’s not worth being unhappier for.
Having a few strong desires can motivate you to get them. But having too many random desires can make you unhappy.
17. Play Compounding Games
All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.
– Naval
Most people play short-term games. They chase shiny objects and measure progress in days instead of decades.
But real growth takes times. Compounding only works over time.
At the start, it’s slow. But it gets increasingly better.
The key is to pick a game that’s worth playing long-term. This is how you reap the benefits of compounding. Choose an industry you love, a craft you want to master, and people you want to grow with.
Pick an industry where you can play long-term games with long-term people.
– Naval
Every time you change your direction, you interrupt the compounding. So it’s best not to interrupt the compounding process. Get clear on what game you want to play and who you want to play it with. Then play it and let compounding do its job.
18. Build Leverage
“Give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand, and I will move the earth.
– Archimedes
You need leverage to disconnect your time from your income.
Leverage is about getting a bigger outcome from the same input.
Take a look at this image. You get a much higher return on your effort when you push at the left arrow. This is because you have more leverage at this point.
Leverage helps you to get more without doing more. It’s a force multiplier.
It’s how some people can accomplish 10x, 100x, or 1,000,000x what others can.
There are 4 types of leverage:
People (people that work for you)
Money (money that works for you)
Code (software that works for you)
Content (media that works for you)
Code and content are best because you don’t need others for it.
Build leverage to earn with your mind instead of your time.
19. Work like a lion
Work like a lion. Sprint, rest, and reassess. Then attack again. You’re not a cow, grazing all day. You’re a lion, waiting, preparing, then going in for the kill.
– Naval
Everybody talks about Monk Mode, but I use something called Lion Mode.
Lion Mode is about working like a lion.
It has 3 phases:
Plan. Hunt. Rest.
In the planning phase, you select your target (goal)
In the hunting phase, you attack with full intensity (work)
In the resting phase, you recharge completely (active recovery)
The idea is that you either work or rest with 100% intensity. This is how you get the most out of your body.
Most people are always 30% on. High performs switch between 0% and 100%.
Work like a lion, not a cow.
20. Find Work That Feels Like Play
The goal is not to retire. It’s to find work that feels like play to you but looks like work to others.
– Naval
The secret to consistency is alignment.
When your work feels like play, you can keep going forever.
You want to find work that looks like work to others but feels like play to you.
It will look effortful to others. But it will feel effortless to you.
This is the type of work you can do forever.
Most people chase motivation. But the best creators chase alignment.
When you’re aligned, you do what you actually want to do.
When you do what you actually want to do, the work energizes you.
The barrier between work and play fades.
Work stops being work and starts feeling like play.
This is the ultimate unfair advantage.
21. Attention Design
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.
– Bruce Lee
Attention Design is about designing your work environment for maximum focus.
It comes down to two rules:
Remove everything that distracts you
Add everything that helps you focus
I don’t know what your room looks like, but here’s what works for me:
Plan tomorrow today
Turn off all notifications
Isolate during the morning
Hide bookmarks and minimize tabs
Use a standing desk to switch posture
Exercise daily, sleep 8 hours, eat clean
Don’t multitask or switch between tasks
Focus on one big action step per work block
No phone, email, or social media before noon
Stay fasted and caffeinated during deep work
Use earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones
Keep your desk empty (just your PC and water/coffee)
Work in 90 minute blocks (then recover for 10 minutes)
Batch-produce shallow tasks into one time block later in the day
Do your most important work when your energy peaks (usually morning)
Reduce decision fatigue by eating mostly the same meals, wearing simple clothes, and automate small choices
The more of these you apply, the easier it becomes to focus.
22. Reverse-Engineer Your Goals
Begin with the end in mind.
– Stephen Covey
When an engineer wants to recreate something, he takes it apart to understand how it works. This is called reverse-engineering, and it’s extremely effective for goal-setting.
Here’s how you can use it:
Aim at the highest possible good you can imagine
Turn this into a practical long-term goal (10 years)
Break it down into smaller goals (3y, 1y, 1q, 1m, 1w, 1d)
Define clear daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly actions
Execute three key actions every single day
This aligns your daily actions with your long-term goal.
And because that goal represents the highest good you can imagine, it aligns your actions with what you value most.
This gives you the strongest motivation and dopamine while you pursue it.
23. Aim at the highest possible good
Jordan Peterson calls this aiming at a star. It’s a metaphor from the movie Pinocchio. In the movie, the character Geppetto wishes upon a star for his puppet to become real. For him, this was the highest possible aim he could imagine.
You aim at what you can see, and as you move toward it, new things come into view that you couldn’t see before. Then you aim higher.
You might start with a foolish aim. But it’s by aiming that you learn to aim better. As you develop, the thing you’re aiming at transforms, because you transform.
You aim at something and as you move toward it, you get wiser. And as you get wiser, you see a better goal in the distance. So you reorient yourself toward that. And that’s how you progress.– Jordan Peterson
This aim is different for everyone, and it takes time to find it.
Don’t worry about picking the wrong star.
Because you will.
And that’s actually a good thing.
Because you learn what’s right for you by experiencing what’s not right for you.
It’s impossible to know what you want without trial and error. So don’t worry about getting this right in your first try. Aim badly, give it your all, learn a lot, and then re-aim.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll miss often — and that’s fine.
You can only connect the dots looking backward, you need to collect them first by moving forward. So pursue a goal to collect the dots. Then reflect to connect them.
24. You don’t need talent, you need obsession
MrBeast was a horrible creator.
His storytelling was bad
His video quality was bad
His audio quality was bad
His hooks and intros were bad
His editing and pacing were bad
His sound design and music were bad
Almost everything he did was bad.
But he still became one of the best YouTubers in the world.
All because he had one thing that others didn’t have:
An enormous desire to become the best YouTuber.
It’s why buried himself alive
It’s why he watched paint dry
It’s why he counted to 100,000
He didn’t have talent. And at the start, he also didn’t have skills or money.
He just had a burning desire to make it work.
Talent may give you a headstart.
But obsession gives you unlimited fuel.
That’s why obsessed people will always beat talented people.
A skilled person knows how to do something.
An obsessed person can figure out how to do anything.
25. Be boring
Most people chase excitement.
New goals
New hobbies
New distractions
New relationships
New opportunities
But success doesn’t come from constantly doing new stuff.
It comes from doing the same simple things over and over again.
Eat. Lift. Build. Write. Help. Sleep. Repeat.
That’s how you create freedom.
Success might look exciting. But behind it are years of ‘boring’ days. Because the boring life actually works. And once you start you live it, you’ll realize it’s actually fun.
The boring life is the good life. Start being boring.
26. Become a full-stack human
Don’t be the rich person who’s obese and unhappy.
Don’t be the bodybuilder who’s broke and lonely.
Don’t be the writer who’s skinny and broke.
Become competent in all important areas.
Get physically fit
Get mentally calm
Get financially free
Get socially confident
Get spiritually grounded
Become a full-stack human.
26 lessons to get ahead of 99% in 2026:
Be boring
Build leverage
Work like a lion
Discipline is a choice
Simplicity is profundity
You aren’t your thoughts
Play compounding games
Become a full-stack human
Find work that feels like play
Nobody has it all figured out
Reverse-engineer your goals
You don’t need a lot to be happy
Don’t try to change other people
Aim at the highest possible good
Tiny changes will change your life
Ignore hustle culture, rest properly
Design your environment for focus
Don’t chase money, chase freedom
Control your mind to control your life
Take 100% responsibility for your life
People pay money to solve problems
Social media is a double-edged sword
The best productivity hack is saying no
You don’t need talent, you need obsession
Consistency is the ultimate unfair advantage
Letting go isn’t something you do, it’s something you don’t do
That’s it for this newsletter. Let me know your thoughts below.
Talk to you in the next one!
Stijn
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