Why Your 20s Are Not the Game, Just the Tutorial

Alan thought he was behind. At 24, he felt like everyone was sprinting while he was still at the start line. One friend had moved to Dubai, working for a big firm, posting airport lounges and work badges. Another launched a YouTube channel and hit 100k subscribers in 10 months. Some were getting married. Some already had kids. Some owned startups. Some were vanishing into cities like Bengaluru and Delhi with job titles Alan didn’t even understand.

Meanwhile, Alan sat at his small desk with a 4-year-old laptop, scribbling in his notebook and watching After Effects tutorials he barely understood.

He wasn’t lazy. He wasn’t confused.
He just... couldn’t figure out how to "arrive" like everyone else seemed to.

But that quiet despair taught him something no school, job, or degree ever did.

The Lie We're Told About Our 20s

See, we’re raised to believe that our 20s are the time to “make it.”

That by 25, we should be established.
That by 28, we should have clarity.
That by 30, we should be successful.

But here's the truth no one ever tells you in the classroom or on Instagram:

Your 20s are not the main game. They're the tutorial phase.

The years where you're supposed to get it wrong.
Where you're meant to crash, doubt, fail, pivot, and stumble.
Not to impress the world but to build the foundation that will carry you through it.

But the system wasn’t built to help you explore.
It was built to make you conform.

So if you're in your 20s and you feel behind, you're not.
You're just not playing by someone else's broken rules.

Learning Fast Doesn’t Mean Skipping the Mess

When Alan realized this, something clicked.

He stopped looking at life like a checklist:
✅ Learn design
✅ Build a side hustle
✅ Make 1 lakh/month
✅ Buy a MacBook
✅ Go viral

And started treating it like a skill game.

He didn’t try to “become a designer.” He tried to design a website.
He didn’t aim to “build an agency.” He pitched one client. Then another.

Each move was imperfect. But every skill was a piece.
Every rejection taught him how to write better emails.
Every failed landing page taught him what people didn’t care about.
Every awkward Zoom call taught him how to carry himself like a founder.

He was stacking techniques, not titles.

The Science Behind the Tutorial Mindset

Research on rapid skill acquisition (Josh Kaufman, Anders Ericsson) shows that deliberate, focused practice over short sprints, even 20 hours can get you to functional proficiency in nearly any skill.

The secret?

1. Clarity of purpose: Don’t learn for prestige, learn for use.

2. Micro-goals: Break the big dream into small, usable pieces.

3. Progressive overload: Tackle harder challenges once the base is built.

4. Environmental design: Cut distractions. Raise the stakes. Build urgency.

This is what most 20-year-olds miss.

They study everything. But use nothing.
They plan big. But execute nothing.
They wait to feel “ready.” But never do.
And so 3 years pass fast.

How Alan Flipped His 20s

Alan turned 27 this year. nHe doesn’t have it all figured out.

But he knows how to:

• Learn any skill in 14 days

• Build a landing page in 2 hours

• Find 3 clients in a month

• Create content that lands

• Write a story that sells

• Say no without guilt

• Focus for 3 hours without checking his phone

He built a library of personal systems. Not hacks. Not hype. Real, quiet, internal tools.
Not to show off but to stay sharp.

The difference?

He stopped treating life like a race to win.
And started treating it like a craft to master.

If You're in the Tutorial Years...

This is your decade to build the operating system you’ll run on for the rest of your life. Not to "arrive," but to become:

• More self-aware

• More capable

• More clear

• More grounded

Start with the real work: Fix your sleep. Learn to cook. Focus for an hour. Read 5 pages. Master Notion. Start that project. Post that idea. Ask that mentor. Reach out to that client. Keep a promise to yourself.

Because this is not the game.
This is where you learn to play.

Don’t F*ck Up the Tutorial

You don’t mess it up by failing. You mess it up by:

• Trying to be perfect

• Chasing someone else's timeline

• Getting addicted to comfort

• Thinking you have forever

• Never starting

Alan didn’t have a shortcut. But he had a mindset:
“I am not late. I am in training.”

And that mindset changed everything.