Life Lessons From 17-70: Advice I Wish I Had Known

Practical life lessons from 17 to 70 — covering travel, time, career, relationships, failure, and patience. Real advice for living better.

I just turned 70.
I’m still getting used to the idea.

Looking back at my teens, I see mistakes, lessons, and missed chances.
Here’s what I wish I had known at 17.

1. Travel

  • You have little responsibility now.
  • Work for a year, save, and travel cheaply.
  • Visit more than the obvious places.
  • Go where it’s tough, where it challenges who you think you are.
  • Travel to learn, discover, and see what’s possible.

2. Build Your Own Projects

  • Don’t spend your best years in other people’s meetings.
  • Find out where you want your life to go.
  • If a corporate job holds you back, leave it.

3. Read Every Day

  • Read widely, not just topics you know.
  • Learn from people, their lives, and their stories.

4. Stop Watching TV

  • Cut it out now.
  • Use that time to build skills, ideas, or experiences.

5. Choose Career Paths Carefully

  • Avoid a corporate job if you want freedom.
  • Create your own work.

6. Trust People — But Stay Aware

  • Trust until given a reason not to.
  • Know some people will hurt you.
  • Don’t let that stop you from opening up.

7. Choose People Wisely

  • A few great people can change your life.
  • Many friends can still leave you lonely.
  • Keep people who help you grow, and do the same for them.

8. Value Time

  • Don’t spend time on people you can’t trust.
  • Don’t be late — it shows you don’t value others’ time.
  • Reevaluate anyone who makes a habit of being late.

9. Fail Fast, Learn Fast

  • Fail in love, work, and friendships.
  • Learn from each failure.
  • Growth comes from using failure to succeed next time.

10. Redefine Success

  • There’s no single point of “made it.”
  • Keep building and learning.

11. Practice Patience

  • Good things take time.
  • Plan in decades.
  • Think in years.
  • Work in months.
  • Live in days.
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