Life is a difficult game. Most of the regrets that limit your ability to live the great life you deserve can be avoided if you know about them ahead of time. Have you ever wondered what mistakes or decisions will haunt you in your later years? Before you turn 30, it pays to see the scars that can be caused by the care-free life you lived in your teens and twenties and hopefully it won’t be too late to fix things.

If you are past the age of 30 and are guilty of any of the 15 things below, it doesn’t mean your life is over. You can still learn from them and work on avoiding them as you get older. However, if you are in your twenties or younger, it will pay you huge dividends to avoid or limit your exposure as much as you can to these 15 things that will haunt you before you turn 30.

Why ‘before you turn 30?’

Studies have shown that the most crucial period in a person’s life is the period between 18 and 28 years old. This period is very formative and for the average person, most decisions made during this decade of life tend to shape the future.

15 Biggest Regrets You Must Absolutely Avoid before You Turn 30:

1. Bad Financial Decisions

A Bad financial decision is like a thorn in your life. Decisions like maxing out credit cards and making minimum to zero payments are debilitating to your future. If you took out student loans in your twenties and used them for frivolous expenses then dropped out of college, you will be haunted by this decision in your thirties. Likewise, being heavily in debt through the accrual of liabilities like apartment furnishings, brand-new cars, gadgets, designer clothing as well as having no savings etc in your twenties will be a heavy regret you should run away from before you turn 30.

2. Maintaining bad relationships or friendships

Bad relationships or friendships are like dead-weight, they drag you down and prevent you from accelerating in life. Besides, failure to cut off your  relationship with people who are abusive, uninspiring, dream-killers will be detrimental to you and a huge regret you must avoid before you turn 30. Everyone who has ever left a bad relationship wished they got out sooner.

3. Staying too long in a dead-end job

Most people in their twenties stay in a dead-end job because it is easy or secure. Any job that doesn’t offer you career development and advancement as well as viable pay is a dead-end job. While these jobs may seem less stressful, they do not equip you with the skills and mindset you will need to thrive later in life. Your chances of transitioning into a more rewarding life are nonexistent with these dead-end jobs.

4. Consistently eating bad food

Eating a bunch of junk fatty foods is something you will regret by the time you turn 30. It’s a lifestyle that will expose you to health issues like cardiac arrest, high cholesterol and many other diseases. Besides, it will cost you a lot in medical bills as well as missed events due to hospitalization. Avoid this habit at all cost before you turn 30.

5. Not taking care of your body

Before you turn 30, prolonged lack of exercise in your twenties begins to reflect on you. Similar to eating bad food, not taking care of your body is a habit with negative effects that compound as your twenties slip away from you. The effects of not taking care of your body include: poor-self image, emotional and health issues, difficulties with relationship to mention but a few. Your body is the only place you have to live in, take good care of it.

6. Wasting your time

Never forget that time is your most valuable asset. The worst way to spend your free time is by spending all of it watching movies and keeping up with stuff. The problem with wasted time is that you never get it back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Wasting your time on things that do not matter will cost you more later in life. Be productive with your time.

7. Drug and substance abuse

A life of drug and substance abuse in your twenties will be damaging to you as you age and could ruin your life forever. Alcohol abuse, tobacco abuse and drug abuse will lower your quality of life as you get slide into 30.  Together with addiction, your life will be hampered by these harmful effects: impaired memory, damage to liver and body organs, chronic pain, mental illness etc. It is wise to stay away from drug and substance abuse before you turn 30.

8. Settling for less than you deserve

Whether it’s in the area of  relationship, academics or work, settling for less than you deserve will sabotage your life of abundance. Continuously settling for second or third best in every area of your life will leave you feeling unsatisfied and unhappy as you get older.

9. Not having the courage to ask 

Courage is one of the most vital qualities you must possess for success in life. Supposing you’re like most people in their teens and twenties that have someone they really admire. You let him or her slip through you hands. You were stuck in the friend zone for too long even though you could see through his/her eyes that they admired you. Now he/she is happily married to someone below the standard you set in your head for them. Perhaps, you are too scared to ask your boss for the raise you think you deserve. Whatever it is, adopt courage before you turn 30.

10. Saying ‘no’ to opportunities

As your 30th birthday approaches, you will likely regret saying no to that job interview, that research program, that investment, that adventure, that trip as well as other missed opportunities you were offered when you were younger. Before you turn 30, strive to say ‘yes’ to as many opportunities as you can that comes your way.

11. Caring too much about what people think

Impressing everyone is a recipe for disaster. In the decades to come you will only beat yourself up about caring too much when they say: “you can’t do it”, “you won’t make it”, “you are weak”, “you are not good enough” etc.

12. Being too afraid or not taking more risks

Playing it too safe and not taking any risks before you turn 30 is something you will surely regret. When you’re too afraid to fail you will never achieve anything significant in your later years.

13. Winning every argument

What friendship did you lose due to your need to win every single argument. Sometimes you wish you could have been less aggressive and let some trivial things go when you were in your twenties. Remember not every fight is worth fighting.

14. Self-doubt and negative thinking

Not trusting your guts or believing in yourself is a cycle that develops overtime. Your constant need for external validation will derail you by the time you turn 30. Remember, whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. According to Joyce Meyer, “you cannot have a positive life and negative mind.” Putting yourself down always and investing in negative thoughts when you are younger will jeopardize your odds of success by the time you turn 30. Check out: how to overcome self-doubt.

15. Not focusing on personal development

Failure to read more books, acquiring new skills, learn a new language and conduct more research when you are younger limits your velocity of success at making greater impact in life.  Thinking that education stops when you graduate college is a set up for a mediocre life. Continuous education is the key, if you’re not learning you’re dying. Just incase you didn’t know, the more you learn the more you earn.

BONUS: Not seeking or taking sound advice

When you are too proud to ask for help or seek advice, you risk making grave mistakes that either slow you down or change the trajectory of your life. On the other hand, not taking a sound advice given to you exposes you to a life full of regret.