If you're in your 20s and feeling overwhelmed by conflicting advice, entrepreneur and financial guru Mark Tilbury has something to say: your willpower matters more than you think, and most of what you'll learn comes from screwing up.

The Willpower-to-Success Pipeline

On Saturday, Tilbury dropped 35 hard-earned lessons on X for twenty-somethings trying to figure out this whole adulting thing. The 58-year-old's advice? Start with the basics.

"Work on your willpower. You'll never reach your full potential if you can't focus for long periods of time," he wrote.

Then there's the producer-versus-consumer problem. "Producers > Consumers. Put more content out than you consume, or you'll be robbed of your time and attention," Tilbury added. Translation: scrolling won't build your career.

He's also big on relationships trumping raw intelligence. "Who you know > What you know," he emphasized, calling networking the real key to unlocking opportunities.

Perhaps his most interesting take: embrace the mess. "Most of my success came from my failures. I wish I knew this sooner," Tilbury noted, encouraging young adults to make reversible decisions quickly and learn from mistakes rather than waiting for perfect clarity.

Other highlights from his list included combining unique skills to stand out, protecting your reputation like it's currency, starting retirement investing immediately, and avoiding the twenty-something trap of buying flashy cars. "Skip the flashy car. It's a waste in your 20's. Instead, buy used & reliable," he advised.

He rounded out the advice with reminders to choose life partners carefully, show up on time, and build motivation around vision instead of fear.

O'Leary's Diversification Warning And Munger's Clock

Tilbury wasn't the only one offering wisdom this weekend. "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary jumped in to warn young adults against the single biggest financial mistake: concentrating everything in one place.

Putting all your money into one stock or idea is "the fastest path to financial disaster," O'Leary said. His rule? "Never put more than 20% in a sector or 5% in a single stock" if you want to survive market volatility.

Meanwhile, the late Charlie Munger, who passed away in 2023 at 99, left behind advice that hits different as you get older. Speaking to 40,000 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders back in 2017, Munger put it simply: "If you've got anything you really want to do, don't wait until you're 93."

Time moves faster than you think, and opportunities don't wait around. Whether you're building willpower in your 20s or finally pursuing that dream project, the lesson is the same: start now.