10 ways twenty-somethings can set themselves up for success.
Welcome to your cheat sheet for how to launch the life you’ve always dreamed of.
Here, I’ve brought together insights from 30 years of setting young professionals up for success, whatever that looks like for them. Consider these the foundational tools you’ll need to help you achieve your career goals, create meaningful relationships, and grow into the best version of yourself.
By Matthew Stewart
CEO + Chairman of College Works
Success is in session.
The College Works Student Professional Program is a summer internship unlike any other—one that puts you well on your way towards mastering the 10 key life skills we’ve outlined here.
The blueprint for building a remarkable life:
Step 1
Master time management.
Time can be your biggest enemy or your greatest asset. My biggest tip? Get into the habit of setting aside 10 minutes at the end of each day to plan for what’s coming. In these resources, I talk about how to create daily, weekly, and even quarterly schedules that set you up for success—and let you have a little fun along the way.
| Listen: | The Edge of Excellence Podcast Ep. 5: Time management secrets |
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| Read: | Time Management 101 |
| Watch: | Time Management |
Step 2
Learn to cope with stress.
Young people today live in a world of stress! Developing ways to cope when things get difficult—both personally and professionally—has never been more important. In these resources, I share how to channel good stress, tools for dealing with bad stress, and ways you can shift your perspective to be more resilient to stress in the future.
| Listen: | The Edge of Excellence Podcast Ep. 10: Tackling stress: the pursuit of excellence |
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| Read: | Stress Management 101 |
| Watch: | How to deal with stress |
Step 3
Become a goal setter.
Successful people don’t just dream, they act. Your twenties are all about figuring out what you want to do—and how you’re going to do it. In these resources, I dive into the power of brainstorming to get clear on what you want to achieve, turning those dreams into actionable steps, setting short- and long-term goals with deadlines, and finding ways to celebrate your wins as they come.
Step 4
Create a life plan.
Goals are how you live with purpose, and not by accident. Use them—and frameworks like the Five Fs (friends, family, finance, fitness, faith)—to build a plan for your dream life. In these resources, I share how to create a life plan by thinking in 3- to 5-year increments, creating rituals around your core values, and defining the legacy you want to leave behind.
Step 5
Invest in great relationships.
In the wise words of Aristotle, “you are the sum of your five closest friends.” So, who do you want to be investing your time with? These resources cover how to create systems that will help you develop relationships that matter (because they don’t just happen!), how to be a generous friend, and much more.
| Listen: | The Edge of Excellence Podcast Ep. 12: The art of building great relationships |
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| Read: | Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi |
| Watch: | Can your friends change your life? |
Step 6
Understand yourself and your personality.
Knowing who you are—why some things light you up and others drive you crazy—is crucial for everything from choosing the right career to finding your life partner. I’m a huge advocate of the DISC personality assessment, and I dive into how to understand and apply its powerful insights in these resources.
| Listen: | The Edge of Excellence Podcast Ep 3: The secret power behind DISC assessments |
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| Read: | Understanding DiSC 201 |
| Watch: | Discovering your strengths and purpose in your 20s |
Step 7
Develop leadership skills.
Every great leader has to start somewhere—and your twenties are the time when you can experiment, practice, and begin the lifelong journey of becoming a true leader (not just someone’s boss). These resources dive into the meaning of servant leadership, how to lead with vision, and how to leverage both the strengths and weaknesses of your personality to be a better leader.
Step 8
Hack the career hunt.
Figuring out your career path isn’t easy! These resources dive into where to start and how to learn about careers that suit both your interests and your strengths (a process I call “wormholing”), then get into strategies like front-loading the work so you can bundle your applications when it finally comes time to apply.
| Listen: | The Edge of Excellence Podcast Ep 41: Using your resources to find the perfect career |
|---|---|
| Read: | The College Works process for hacking the job hunt |
| Watch: | Facing fear of rejection with Tiffany Lin |
Step 9
Grow your emotional intelligence.
You have to know yourself before you can know others. And that’s what developing emotional intelligence (or EQ) is all about. These resources are a treasure trove of advice for developing core EQ skills like active listening, understanding body language, and taking feedback, as well as how to develop yourself through meditation, reading, therapy, and much more.
Step 10
Develop some grit.
What if everything in your life—the good, the bad, the risky—was an opportunity? Seeing things this way takes grit—and it’s a mindset that the most successful people have mastered. In these resources, I share how you can develop grit in your twenties by leaning into challenges, tackling the lessons you need to learn to grow head-on, and trusting the power of the process.
| Listen: | The Edge of Excellence Podcast Ep 69: Why are values important to succeed in business and life? |
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| Watch: | Transform discomfort into your superpower for lasting success |
There’s more where this came from.
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