How To Destroy Your Life In Your 20s In 8 Simple Steps

Or Your 30s...Or Any Decade For That Matter

No one plans to wreck their life in their 20s. But tons of people do it anyway.

It’s not through a single event or some dramatic breakdown. Rather, it’s a slow, subtle slide into mediocrity and unfulfillment.

I’m not trying to be an alarmist here. This is just what the data shows.

We’ve somehow become a society that’s more anxious, depressed, and directionless than ever. Or that’s what they say, anyways.

Wondering where it all went wrong?

Well, I think this step-by-step guide just about sums it up.

Here are 8 surefire ways to tank your twenties (or any decade, really) so you know exactly what not to do if you want a meaningful life.

Step 1: Let Lifestyle Creep Swallow You Whole

Congrats: you got your first “real job.”

Time to celebrate by upgrading everything in your life right away!

• That $2,500/month luxury apartment

• The latest iPhone you don’t need

• Daily Uber Eats orders for "convenience"

• Friday nights out with friends that cost more than your emergency fund

Soon, you’re making $70K and spending $72K. But hey, at least you look successful on LinkedIn and your friends think you’re “doing well.”

Meanwhile, your savings account has $11.34 and is begging for you to stop beating it like some dying animal behind the barn.

Lifestyle creep is a silent killer of freedom. It’s how people get trapped in careers they hate, tied to cities they can’t afford, all for the illusion of progress.

Want to keep your 20s chaotic? Spend like the money will never run out.

Want to use your twenties to build the foundations of financial freedom?

Check out this guide 👉 The Normal Person Guide To Stacking Cash

Step 2: Give Up On Love & Settle For Shallowness

This one's for the “emotionally unavailable” crowd.

Tell yourself love is a scam. Convince yourself no one is worth trusting. Hide behind sarcasm, “it’s just a hookup” rationality, and endless, bullshit situationships you conjured from the depths of Hinge.

Pretend you don’t care. Pretend you’re fine.

Then wonder why your life feels hollow after you hit all your career goals and still have no one to celebrate with (except for that ugly-ass cat.)

Men and women both do this, in different ways.

And honestly, this was me for several years in my twenties. I haven’t dated much, but I’ve had plenty of situationships. I’ve only loved one person. Now that I don’t talk to them anymore, life feels paralyzing lonely and like it’s impossible to do anything about it.

My advice?

Ditch the dating apps and hookup culture. Focus on yourself, your friends and family, and turning yourself into the kind of person who would be a perfect partner for someone.

After all, there’s a quote from Christopher McCandless, some hobo who wandered into the woods and promptly died: “Happiness is only real when shared."

Step 3: Stop Playing. Stop Learning. Stop Growing.

When’s the last time you tried something new, just for fun?

Most people stop doing this around 23. That’s when “being serious” kicks in. You graduate, get a job, and have to be a ‘Big Boy’ now.

Suddenly hobbies become “a waste of time” unless they earn money.

You stop experimenting. Stop exploring. Stop being curious.

You stop playing.

But play is where innovation happens. It’s also where you tap into that child-like sense of wonder and discovery that keeps life exciting and gives it meaning.

This is why I’m a huge fan of booking one-way flights to random places. And it’s also why I think trying new side hustles, random hobbies, or just saying yes to as much stuff as possible is a very healthy habit when you’re young.

So if your goal is to destroy your soul by 28, here’s what to do:

Watch the same shows, go to the same bar, hang with the same people, talk about the same stuff, scroll endlessly, and tell yourself, “I’m just not passionate about anything.”

It works like magic.

Want to break out of the simulation instead? 👉 Here’s how to avoid destroying your soul by living like an NPC.

Step 4: Program Your Mind With Invisible Limiting Beliefs

This one’s sneaky. You don’t even realize it’s happening, but that’s what makes it so damaging.

People in their twenties say things like:

• “I need this job.”

• “Starting a business is too risky.”

• “I can’t move abroad, I don’t even speak Spanish.”

• “I’m just not good at [insert thing you’ve never actually tried].”

And like a good little robot, your brain obeys this messaging.

This is just you reinforcing mediocrity in life.

Limiting beliefs are like concrete poured into your thinking. Once they harden, you live inside them like a sad little box for the rest of your life.

This kind of thinking also limits you from seeing bigger opportunities, or having dreams. It’s how people settle for a 9-5 job they hate, all in the name of getting a 2% raise every year, and never try building something for themselves.

Wanna ruin your 20s fast? Accept small thinking as your default operating system.
Better yet, surround yourself with other people who do the exact same thing.

💵 How To Get Stupidly Rich With A One-Person Business.

Step 5: Let Fitness Become A Distant Memory

This one is tough. I totally get that life gets hectic, people have stuff going on, and it’s not always easy to get to the gym or to find time for sports.

But one of the fastest ways to tank your twenties and the rest of your life is to get out of shape.

Your body is the engine for everything…your work, your relationships, all of your ideas. And if you let this engine rust and break down, it’s incredibly difficult to repair it to the same state after just a few years.

At the very least, walk everyday. Drink water instead of soda. Build a habit around weightlifting, running, or some kind of physical activity.

Otherwise, you’re going to wake up at 29 feeling like you’re 47 and wonder what happened.

Step 6: Accumulate Vices Like They’re Pokémon Cards

One Red Bull won’t hurt. One vape hit. One TikTok doomscrolling session. One late-night binge.

Do it again. And again. And again.

Suddenly, you can’t start your day without nicotine surging through your veins and end it without dopamine blasting through your smartphone.

This is how routine derails your progress and health in your twenties.

Most people won’t destroy their lives with one big vice. They’ll quietly collect 6–7 mediocre ones and let them run the show.

Then they’ll say: “I don’t know why I feel so numb all the time.”

🧠 PS: Please delete TikTok. I don’t even care if it’s Chinese spyware at this point or not, it’s just so bad for your brain. Please delete it. I’m working on deleting Instagram too, but I like posting nature photos. Maybe I’ll get there one day.

Step 7: Lose Your Spirituality & Never Look Back

You don’t have to believe in God, necessarily.

But you need to believe in something.

However, it’s strange these days. I increasingly meet young adults who are almost proud to be atheist. Like, they tell me with a sense of smugness how happy they are that they don’t believe in anything.

This is an absolutist way to view the world that’s also risky.

You need something that grounds you and brings you a sense of peace and clarity when chaos inevitably finds you…Because chaos will find you one day. It often arrives unannounced and unplanned for too.

This could be spending time in nature. It could be some general sense of spirituality. It could be some kind of God. It could even be star signs or Angel numbers or Fortune Cookies, I don’t care.

But if you want to ruin your twenties, smugly declare that you don’t have faith in anything.

Believe in your numbers, your reasoning, and your “perfectly logical arguments.” Good luck to you when life smacks you upside the head.

Step 8: Never Test Your Limits

Here’s the final step: Never do anything that might scare you, stretch you, or force you to grow.

Don’t launch that one side business you’ve been thinking about. Don’t ask the person out. Don’t move cities.

Stay right where it’s safe and comfortable. Build your whole life around avoiding uncertainty.

Then, once you’ve spent a decade living below your potential, say things like: “Not everyone is meant for greatness.”

Never test your limits, and you’ll never know who you could’ve been. Which is exactly how to live with low-key regret for the rest of your life.

What’s Next?

I’ve had a couple beers on a patio in Cluj, Romania. The sun is setting on the main plaza in the old part of the city. I’m writing this Substack, and I honestly don’t really know why since this isn’t exactly WiFi Wealth oriented, although it kinda is?

But here’s what I have realized over the last few years in my late twenties: You don’t destroy your life with one bad decision. You destroy it with a thousand little compromises.

When we’re inauthentic and follow the norm for the sake of following the norm, this is how we end up in trouble and full of resent.

But you want to know the good news?

You can also build your dream life in your 20s by making small, intentional, healthy choices every day.

Some of these choices won’t feel easy at first. But these choices are in our control. And this ultimately means that we have the power to craft a life that’s meaningful to us, provided we take the time to visualize it and work for it.

You don’t need to follow the blueprint everyone else is using.

In fact, tear it up. Make your own.

It’s more fun that way, anyway.

Catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Find more of my work and get in touch 👉 https://pillar.io/tomblakefinance