Depression because of a waste of time Need your help !

[Bojko]

Hi guys, sry for bad english
Jan (18) from Germany here. So i wasted my last 4 months of free time (Time after finishing school and university in Germany), doing basicly nothing. I wanted to learn new skills in this gap and built my business on it but i did not had any idea of how to search for a skill to learn. And i dont have any idea today. Now i study Business Administration, but it is lame as f*ck and has nothing to do with real life business. I also fall into a small depression because i have wasted these 4 months. So my question is: How did you found your skill you masterd and do you have any suggestions what i should do in the following months ? The depression gets worse every single day and i am worried that i will stay in these state of mind. It would be awful because one year ago i found about entrepreneurship and that was my only light in my life besides of my family. So please guys if you have any suggestions leave it here pls !!!

 

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[Deleted50669]

Hi guys, sry for bad english
Jan (18) from Germany here. So i wasted my last 4 months of free time (Time after finishing school and university in Germany), doing basicly nothing. I wanted to learn new skills in this gap and built my business on it but i did not had any idea of how to search for a skill to learn. And i dont have any idea today. Now i study Business Administration, but it is lame as f*ck and has nothing to do with real life business. I also fall into a small depression because i have wasted these 4 months. So my question is: How did you found your skill you masterd and do you have any suggestions what i should do in the following months ? The depression gets worse every single day and i am worried that i will stay in these state of mind. It would be awful because one year ago i found about entrepreneurship and that was my only light in my life besides of my family. So please guys if you have any suggestions leave it here pls !!!

What has recently worked for me; find problems and offer to solve them. Nothing else matters until you are actively solving problems. You will build the right skills doing that. Let the market dictate your skills.

 

[AndrewNC]

The depression gets worse every single day and i am worried that i will stay in these state of mind. It would be awful because one year ago i found about entrepreneurship and that was my only light in my life besides of my family. So please guys if you have any suggestions leave it here pls !!!

For Depression:

Search on YouTube for Emotional Freedom Technique. Do that for whatever negative emotions you're feeling (depression, regret, etc.) for 20 minutes per day. It's a rapid emotional release technique that will quickly put you in a higher emotional state of performance.

For the Skills:

Recognize problems people have in their lives. Recognize problems that are in specific markets. Get out there and meet new people in areas of life you have no experience in (meetup groups, local events, etc.) and live a well-rounded life around new types of people with an open mind of how you do things.

This will also help with your emotional state when you are around people all the time.

Find problems, and then deliver solutions. Even if it's as simple as complimenting someone authentically when the feel down.

Being in the problem-solving business, and doing it from a "How can I help you" standpoint will help you shift from consumer to producer easily.

After that, learning how to reach more people in the market who have similar problems (marketing), and then how to accurately describe your solutions to their problem (influence/sales).

Those three skills together will apply to any business you apply in any industry in life.

 

[Bojko]

ok thanks guys, I will use all of your advice

 

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[MattR82]

Find a friend or family member with a business and if there's anything you can do to help.

 

[FeaRxUnLeAsHeD]

You are 18. Any decision you make in business (school, start a company, etc) cannot be wrong. You will learn. You will grow.

You can't be depressed if you are trying new things that you enjoy. Just start gathering experiences. There is no right or wrong answer.

 

[Thiago Machado]

Depression = thinking too much about the past

Anxiety = thinking too much about the future.

You should only be focused on the PRESENT.

You are 18 years old.
Your adult life is literally just starting.
So what exactly did you lose in those 4 months?

Absolutely nothing....

So please don't beat yourself up.
Many people on this forum wish they were 18 again (and had access to this forum at that age).

Based on what you wrote, I can tell that you are lost and don't know what to do.
A lot of people have been through this stage.
This is normal and you just need a sense of direction.

So in order to help you out - If I could go back in time and be 18 again, here's what I would do:

Build my skillset.

I would master a skill that generates revenue for a business.

In my opinion the best skills are PPC and Sales.

You simply learn how to generate leads and close them.
This is the only thing that matters at the end of the day. (There's more though, but this is just a summary).

If you can master these two, you can either:

1. Get a high paying job (and be indispensable within your company).
2. Go into business for yourself.

As a matter of fact, you can even do both at the same time!

* Bonus

Once I mastered those two, I would learn how to code.

This would allow me to build a business with very little cash and risk.

SAAS companies are usually built on a monthly recurring revenue model (think netflix, spotify, adobe creative cloud, etc. They all make you pay per month.) Of course this is much easier said than done. But you can probably create a profitable mini SAAS that pays the bills without much of your involvement in the business (semi-passive).

With the world constantly moving towards tech and automation, I think it's a great skill to have.

I promise you, that if you can manage to master to those 3 skills, you will be equipped with the knowledge to solve problems for both people and businesses all over the world.

Your 18 years old.
It takes 4 years on average to graduate college.
If you start learning these skills now, in 4 years you'll be amazed at what you can do. I guarantee.

Start now brother.

Time is on your side!

 

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[I Am I Said]

Hi guys, sry for bad english
Jan (18) from Germany here. So i wasted my last 4 months of free time (Time after finishing school and university in Germany), doing basicly nothing. I wanted to learn new skills in this gap and built my business on it but i did not had any idea of how to search for a skill to learn. And i dont have any idea today. Now i study Business Administration, but it is lame as f*ck and has nothing to do with real life business. I also fall into a small depression because i have wasted these 4 months. So my question is: How did you found your skill you masterd and do you have any suggestions what i should do in the following months ? The depression gets worse every single day and i am worried that i will stay in these state of mind. It would be awful because one year ago i found about entrepreneurship and that was my only light in my life besides of my family. So please guys if you have any suggestions leave it here pls !!!

I know it's easy to feel panicky about making progress, but as a 40-year-old I envy you.

Not your youth, although I'm sure it's nice to have.

Not your education, although I wish I had studied business administration.

What I envy is your realization of where you stand at only 18. At that age I was focused on drinking the local liquor store dry.

I only realized I was wasting time at age 36, exactly double.

So live, and learn, and try things, and make mistakes, and don't beat yourself up. You're on the right track.

 

[Jurica22]

Hey Jan,

As a fellow 18 year old, that also feels like wasting time, I can relate. During the summer break from school I've planned to learn how to code (HTML, PHP, CSS, Javascript etc.). After learning the basics of HTML, I've created a website.

I've tried to make it in the affiliate marketing space. The website was a bulleted list of best supplement ( I don't even know what I was thinking). The value add I thought I was making was creating it in Croatian. I've figured since there weren't any good Croatian websites on the topic, I could fill a (tiny) need in the market.

Needless to say it failed miserably. In retrospect though, it was a valuable experience (and that's how you should look at your situation).
I've learned how to create a basic website, I've experienced firsthand how it feels breaking the commandment of need (the commandment of control as well).

Basically, I've learned what not to do in the future. I think this is how we (I'm still learning) should look at it.

 

[Iammelissamoore]

I know it's easy to feel panicky about making progress, but as a 40-year-old I envy you.

Not your youth, although I'm sure it's nice to have.

Not your education, although I wish I had studied business administration.

What I envy is your realization of where you stand at only 18. At that age I was focused on drinking the local liquor store dry.

I only realized I was wasting time at age 36, exactly double.

So live, and learn, and try things, and make mistakes, and don't beat yourself up. You're on the right track.

You are 18. Any decision you make in business (school, start a company, etc) cannot be wrong. You will learn. You will grow.

You can't be depressed if you are trying new things that you enjoy. Just start gathering experiences. There is no right or wrong answer.

At 34, I have learnt SO MANY LESSONS on the 'trippings' I made in my life. We live in a competitive world and while 18 is young, it is so GREAT that you already have a champion mindset. One thing I can surely tell you, a lot of things in life aren't always cracked up to be what it claims to be, and that is fine, you will find your 'middle ground' when you are doing something that brings you fulfilment and one of the Best ways to bring fulfilment, especially in biz, is providing a service, product and/or idea that fulfils needs. In the books TMF and Unscripted , these are core aspects of successful businesses that stand the true test of time - these are the core factors that separates successful businesses in a recession, from the not-so-successful businesses on a regular day. Andy says it best, and I carry this in my heart daily about the choices I make, he says to find at least one person and help them, whether it's business or general day to day life.

Don't beat yourself up AND if in the meantime you're searching, it's possible you can look into taking on a part-time job, not for the purpose of getting comfy and staying there, but to help you figure things out while interacting with others in a professional setting. A job can help you figure out what skills you'd like to pursue and what aspects of business you'd like/dislike and how to work around such.

I wish you success and hope that as you continue to grow on your journey that you'll gain insight along all that you desire. Cheers.

 

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