Quoting from CLEO magazine
1. be your own fashion stylist
People expects youngling to have a new sense of style with every passing year, but in your 20s, you need to present an air of stability rather than unpredictability. It works for both your career and your social life, since everyone around you is growing older, too. So, start transforming your wardrobe from MTV-hip to something more sophisticated. You know what colours and styles you look best in-expand those themes. For some, it’s floral; others, it’s turquoise. Complete your kit with a few good (read:Quality) handbags, earrings, and shoes and a stand-out accessory or two to wear often-people will come to identify you with it.
2. Globetrot
You must travel to at least three or four foreign lands just to see what life is like on the other side of
3. Know your accessories
Nothing brings a 20-something down more than tacky accessories. By your 20s, there are several things you should know about before shopping for jewellery. First, the four Cs of diamonds (cut, clarity, colour, carat). Next, some basics to do with gemstones (birthstone, anniversaries, shapes). Armed with this knowledge, you can more astutely pick and choose accessories that are suited to your persona, character and style. Learn more at www.gemstone.org and www.thediamondbuyingguide.com.
4. Narrow your chums list
The “you jump, I jump” brand of friendship won’t cut it anymore from 20 onwards. Friends can be a pain, in fact, especially the kind that can only call on you when they need your help. It is perfectly normal for your circle of acquaintances to narrow considerably as you grow older. As other priorities start to take precedence in your life, the less-important friendships you have will start to drop-off, one by one. If ne’er-do-good chums still call you to borrow a buck or to crash at your flat until they find a new job, now is the time to start turning them away. It’s not being selfish; it’s just growing up. (something that friend of yours is obviously having trouble with).
5. Have a plan B
You may be doing really well for yourself now, but never in your wildest fantasies must you think that he status quo is going to remain this way indefinitely. You might get dumped. You might lose your job. You might discover a New Age religion. There are plenty of things that can happen-usually out of your control-that will impact your life, either negatively or positively, depending on how you look at it. So, start thinking about a plan B now. Hone a skill you can trade in the event your spanking new start-up closes shop in the next economic crisis. Have a place you can turn to (usually, your parents) should you be thrown out of your apartment. And keep a best-friend handy as a shoulder to cry on, for Pete’s sake.
6. No more pity dates
Whilst you may have had the luxury of dating hapless guys for the sake of dating, this decade of your life means becoming more assertive with your time and energy, and knowing that to be kind, you must be cruel. You are now a woman of the world. You can hardly be expected to pity men your age for not having a date on Friday night (especially if you don’t really like them in the first place). You have a hard time as it is keeping dates with men you are really in to, let alone losers. Don’t be afraid of turning them down-they are, after all, 20-something themselves, and must be able to take rejection like adults. You don’t have to say that you would much rather stay home and watch a movie than go out to dinner with them, but you certainly have the right o tell them (gently) that you’re are not interested.
7. Have a favourite wine
Nothing embodies maturity quite like a distinct preference of wines, and although you don’t have to know all the good years in the book. In fact, you probably already have some idea of favourite-fruity, dry, mellow or full-bodied. Just commit to memory the place it was bottled. Wines are really less about the brands and more about the locales they are produced in. Educate yourself about wines at www.winespectator.com.
8. Cook!
No, not instant noodles. Have at least four or five dishes you can cook relatively well, and practice doing so often. You might not always be able to dine out, you know. And what about wanting to please that special someone?
9. Save
Besides your EPF savings, you should have a secondary retirement plan, either in the form of fixed deposits (short-term) or property (long-term). Buying one or two lots of a publicly-trade blue chip company included in the Composite Index on Bursa M’sia is also a good way of investing in your retirement.
10. No more bitchiness
No, absolutely not, not under any circumstances… especially at work. Parents and teachers can forgive bitchiness in a hot-headed teen because they don’t expect you to know any better. But in your 20s, the operative word is ‘cool’. So, don’t get into cat fights. Instead, resolve differences by smiling and keeping an open mind-by now, you should be old enough to realize that you don’t know everything.
11. Be man independent
Although most men are still happy to help you in your time of need, by now you should be able to do most-if not all-the tasks you usually get a hunk in for yourself. Learn to do your own minor plumbing. And hammering and nailing. And plastering, and painting and moving. Don’t worry about coming off as being too independent: the self-assured, independent 20-something woman are irresistible to men.
12. Remember names
The days of “What’s your name again?” are gone. In your 20s, you are expected to have the maturity to know that a person’s name is his or her most reassured identity, and to forget it so soon after being introduced can only mean one thing: you don’t care. And to not care at this stag is a sure-sign you’re not ready for 20-something life.
13. Wear high heels
Unless you’re a painter or similarly engaged professional artists, loafers and flatties will not send the right signals about the new woman you have become. Have at least three pairs of two-inch heels in your wardrobe, and one sexy, black four-inch pair of stilettos to wear on lucky dates (not office). But before you wear them, practice your strut around the house (toes land first, not heels) else you risk either coming off as a fake, falling flat on your face. Also, walk with the one foot landing in front of the other, as opposed to side-by-side-not doing so will result in an embarrassing wobble very unbecoming of a 20-something.
14. Lose the body art
If you enjoyed body piercings in your late teens and early 20s, good. Be glad for the experience, because now as you grow older, body art becomes girlish. You can still maintain the rings you may have on your navel or other parts of your body not usually seen in public, but the lip, tongue and eyebrow studs will have to go. The holes will heal and close in time. For now, do your best to cover them up with make-up.
15. Be your own clock
Stop relying on your mother to wake you up in the morning.
16. Know your car
Meaning you should be able to change a tyre, top up the engine oil, inspect spark plugs and change a fuse by yourself. Exciting? Yes, but also dangerous if you’ve not done them before. Get someone reliable to guide you on doing these things before attempting them yourself. Once you have, you’ll be confident in the knowledge you won’t have to call the pros for something as minor as overheating.
17. Care for your nails
Being a woman means caring for how you look top-to-toe, no exclusions. There are many other things you can look forward to changing, too (such as your hairstyle-no more crazy cuts!), but in particular, nails speak volumes about your personal glooming habits.
18. Keep current
Don’t know what the state of affairs is in
19. Know your music
You should have outgrown Robbie Williams and Britney when you turned 21, but if you haven’t, explore radio stations other than Hitz.FM. instead, tune into TraxxFm or Mix.FM and pick up on music for grown-ups. Recommendations of “adult” musics? Norah Jones, Sarah MaLachlan and even Jacyln Victor come to mind as excellent female vocalists. If you still harbour secret desires of hooking up with a rock star, then consider the music of john Mayer, Coldplay and U2.
20. Know your government
You voted during the last elections, but do you have any idea what’s going down now? The Parliament is abristle everyday with ministers and MPs debating bill and that, and while a lot of what goes on is largely uninteresting, a lot of it is important. Try to at least keep abreast of development so you know which minister is in charge of which department, and what initiatives the government is pushing through. This will help you make an informed decision for your vote during the next elections, and also serve to make you more knowledgeable about why things are the way they are today.
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