Is it really good to succeed at a young age?
I often met people with the mindset:
"I'll work hard until I'm 30, and then I'll enjoy the fruits of my labour."
Many people wanted to get into the Forbes 30 Under 30.
Now I see people around 18 who are already exiting their projects (in addition, they also have health problems because they didn't distribute their energy optimally), and the age limit is moving lower.
Is it really good to succeed as a young person?
Because if I look at it from a different perspective:
When you reach the top at a young age, what's next?
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Givgive
Success at a young age is often a story of catching the right wave at the right time in the right place.
I went through that experience myself, and for a while, I believed I could repeat it over and over again.
But it's not that simple.
I’ve learned that success isn't always linear - and sometimes, the deeper lessons come after the initial peak.
I actually share a lot about this journey — the ups and downs, the emotional “rollercoaster” - in the book I recently finished writing. It’s been quite a ride.
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@crazystartuper What was your peak? (or that wave) :D
Givgive
@busmark_w_nikaGreat question 😄
I’ve actually caught a few waves in my career.
1 First one - when I was still in sales. I managed to win a car as the top seller in the country. That felt unreal at the time.
2 Then in 2008 - I helped pull our small e-commerce store out of the crisis, just in time to catch the rise of online retail. That was the first time I felt like I was building something bigger than myself.
3 And the wildest one, during the pandemic. We launched a new product line, won a huge state contract, and shipped thousands of protective garments a day.
> For a brief moment, I felt unstoppable.
> Then — 9 cents in the account. Burnout. Collapse.
> That’s when the real startup story began.
So yeah, I’ve had a few peaks — and some heavy crashes.
What I’ve learned: the climb feels great, but the fall teaches more.
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@crazystartuper Whaaaat? Guys, do you also have ups?
I feel like I do not have any significant achievement lol :D
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@manu_goel2 Agree that success differs, but there is a slight difference – about one success, nobody says anything (chilling), and about the other, all the world talks about (e.g., the Apple story). In this case, I meant the second one.
Haimeta
The entrepreneur friends I know have always had a strong determination to change the world's rules. For people with this trait, early success is a good thing—it allows them to fight against what they see as unreasonable much earlier in life.
But I have other friends who are driven by a mix of material desires and ambition—they want fame and money, and they do have some luck catching the right trends. But I have to say, early success might make them inflated.
So I have to say, premature success is simply a fact; whether it's good or bad depends on a person's character.
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@gin_6078 The second group of people are more likely to scam people, earn internet magic money and burn them on some random stuff. I do not like that approach.
Haimeta
@busmark_w_nika This reminds me of "The Wolf of Wall Street." I've encountered many entrepreneurs like that too. Honestly, I don't like them either, haha.
The real question might be, can we redefine success to include sustainability, health, and curiosity, not just speed and outcome? Because if you're not enjoying the journey, what are you really racing toward?
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@hamza_afzal_butt I suppose the guy also enjoyed the journey but was in one project (focus) for so long that he forgot he could start again with something else. He may have lost his purpose for a while.
@busmark_w_nika Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. When you’re all-in on one thing for so long, it’s easy to forget there’s life beyond it.
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@hamza_afzal_butt Sometimes happens to me but thankfully I always switch to something else :D hh
BooleanMaths Pulse
It's actually pretty good to succeed at a young age. That may be in Education, Career, their own Venture or some artistic endeavour. It gives anyone a pretty solid base to build the rest of their life own.
There are two extremely important points to note though
Early success should not be treated as the Finish line, but simply as a stepping stone. Stay hungry, stay foolish.
Early Failure should definitely not be treated as the Finish Line. Every failure is a simply a Start for another Journey and more often than not, what we see as failures end up being incredible lessons for the future. The dots only connect in hindsight.
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@nitesh_kumar76 I am aligned with this. Especially the first one resonates with me.
It's an important question and it all depends on your definition of success. The first question you should ask is what does success look like for you.
The fact you mention the Loom founder as an example tells me you adopted the definition of success of someone else.
In my sense, success shouldn't be solely defined by monetary value. It's your freedom. It's your ability to move around and discover. It's your ability to decide what your days, hours and minutes look like.
Once you have that defined, you'll realize it's an ever evolving goal and "reaching the top" doesn't exist.
The journey is the success.
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@johny_duval In that case, I should frame the "success" term more precisely on my own, because it changes overtime. :)
YouMind
This is a great question. I believe everyone needs to first understand what “success” truly means in their own heart. For me, as a product manager and entrepreneur, I’ve created products that have been used by tens of millions of users, and at that time, I felt I was successful.
But that doesn’t mean there are no new goals in the future. Now, I’m starting a new venture and pursuing different achievements.
I think each stage of life brings new pursuits and definitions of success. Whether young or old, as long as you still have dreams in your heart, you should keep moving forward and continue seeking your own value. Success is not an endpoint, but a process of ongoing growth and exploration.
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@hi_caicai What company did you manage previously? :)
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@baltazar_torres For some people it can be family, to drag you out from overthinking and overworking :) Could be.
Paraflow
That's a fairly great question. I still think to succeed at young age is better than in an old age, for I think that the confusion and emptiness is always going to happen no matter rich or poor, young or old. Unsuccessful people would no doubt always wonder when they would be successful. But if this is a person with a strong heart, then he can make use of the rest of the time and make greater achievement. For a person strong enough to get over his psychological barriers, I think a lengthy lifetime and an early success would be good for him.
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@pulin_yuuu I am still thinking. E.g. if I were to succeed at one thing, I would probably try to find other things to succeed. It would be for me never ending story as I need purpose in my life. But it is true that "not succeeding" once you financially succeed before would be harder. Because when you have more money in your account, you can pay for things, and it is easier to achieve them, so relatively soon I would be done with other things.
TinyCommand
Such a deep question, Nika and honestly something I’ve wrestled with personally.
Early success is glamorized, but what no one talks about is the existential vacuum it can leave behind. When “achievement” becomes your identity so early, you're left asking: now what? And worse, you often skip the phase where you truly get to know yourself beyond work and wins.
I’ve seen a few peers burn out by 25 not because they failed but because they succeeded too fast, too publicly, and didn’t get the space to grow privately. What’s been helpful for me is shifting the goal from “early success” to “sustainable growth” both in business and as a person.
So maybe the real flex isn't being done by 30, but still curious, grounded, and creating well past it.
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@priyanka_gosai1 true, when you build publicly, it is a kind of commitment like "Aha, how good I am" and "Now, I succeeded and I need to deliver something else to go beyond my past success."