17 mistakes everyone should make before they turn 30 | ||
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Everyone makes mistakes. But no matter how much humiliation, pain, or sadness they may cause, every misstep helps us learn and grow and ultimately be better people. In fact, some mistakes are even necessary for your future success — and you should try to make them while you're still young. "There is a lot of talk about how kids aren't being 'allowed' to make mistakes, and this is hurting them in the long run because they aren't building the skills necessary to deal with change and be resilient," says Michael Kerr, author of "The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank." "If they don't learn that failure is part of growing early on, then they may be less equipped to deal with failure later on in life," Kerr says. Here are some necessary mistakes everyone should make before turning 30: 1. Bomb a big presentation. "Even polished, professional speakers and public figures lay an egg now and then, and it's an important lesson to learn early: It happens, and you'll survive," says Kerr. "And you'll realize it's not the end of the world, and you'll learn a ton about what not to do and what to do next time." 2. Date the wrong person. Whether it's the "rebound" person or just a bad choice, most everyone's done it. Discovering what you don't want early on will help you make better choices with all your important relationships, says Kerr. "It'll help you learn things about your own values and life goals that perhaps you weren't aware of." 3. Stick with a terrible job. Even if the boss is horrible and the pay is bad, don't just give up and jump ship. Stick around for a while and try to find a solution — even if it seems like a terrible move at the time. "The way you handle yourself in this situation will forever shape the way you treat people when you're in charge," says Ryan Kahn, a career coach, founder of The Hired Group, and author of "Hired! The Guide for the Recent Grad."
"Assuming you were going to get that promotion or be assigned an important project or made team leader are all mistakes you should make at least once," says Kerr. "Learning from these types of mistakes will remind you to not take things for granted and to never sit back and assume something will be handed to you." 5. Hit rock bottom. Before the wildly successful "Harry Potter" series came to life, J.K. Rowling was a single mom in her 30s on welfare, with no job, no money, and a child to raise on her own. In a 2008 commencement speech at Harvard University, Rowling discussed how hitting rock bottom forced her to finish the first Harry Potter book. She says: "I've often met people who are terrified — you know, in a straitjacket of their own making — because they'd rather do anything than fail. They don't want to try for fear of failing," she says. "[Hitting] rock bottom wasn't fun at all — I'm not romanticizing rock bottom — but it was liberating. What did I have to lose?" 6. Get fired. If you're ever going to get fired, doing it in your 20s is the way to go, says Kerr. "Getting fired early on can be a brutally tough life experience, but it can serve as a huge wake-up call for change if there was a performance issue." It may even serve notice that you were on the wrong career path — and better to learn that in your 20s than in your 40s. "Being fired or laid off also teaches you the most valuable life lesson: that ultimately you need to take 100% control of your own destiny and develop the skills necessary to always have a viable back-up plan and take responsibility for your own life," he says.
Sure, it won't look great on your résumé — but by trying out different career paths you'll gain insight into what your true calling is, says Kahn. 8. Take the wrong job for the wrong reasons. It might be because of the money; it may be because you felt this was the only option at the time. But learning this lesson early will help you define your values and set you up for a more fulfilling career in the long run, Kerr explains. 9. Say whatever's on your mind without any regard for anyone else's feelings. This is part of growing up and navigating relationships, both personal and professional. "Making the mistake of deeply offending someone can serve as a wake-up call to be more empathetic around others and help you develop better communication skills," says Kerr. 10. Burn bridges. Obviously you don't want to do this frequently, but making the mistake of burning a bridge once or twice can actually be beneficial. "It's sometimes more challenging to see the long-term consequences of our actions when we are younger, and burning bridges can come back to haunt us in substantial ways," Kerr says. "Learning to walk away from a difficult situation on a positive note with your head held high is an important lesson to carry with you throughout your life."
"You'll always find ways to get that particular work project done, but you'll never find ways to retake that particular moment with friends," Kahn explains. 12. Offend someone with your humor. This may not seem like a huge deal, says Kerr, "but navigating the minefield of appropriate humor in a business setting can be a challenge for people starting out in their careers, in extreme cases even costing them their jobs." Figuring out where those lines are and that everyone has different tastes and perceptions is a critically important skill to learn early. 13. Risk everything. Risking everything for an uncertain career or romantic relationship might seem like a huge mistake to most people, but everyone should do it once early in their life. It can pay off. And if it doesn't, you will at least learn something from the experience, so it won't be a total loss. 14. Be passive. "It's natural, especially when you're young, to sometimes sit back and want to please everyone in the hopes of making sure everyone gets along," says Kerr. "But being too passive and not learning to ask for what you want can lead to missed opportunities — and the earlier you learn that lesson, the better."
This is a mistake you'll make over and over again your whole life. Each time, you'll be one step closer to realizing you're not always right — so it's best to start thinking this as early as possible. 16. Blame someone for your mistakes. You should blame yourself or someone else at least once. It will help you realize this isn't productive. "When something goes wrong, instead of looking for who to point the finger at, look for ways you can create solutions," says Kahn. 17. Think mistakes are always a bad thing or a personal reflection on you. "Mistakes are life's feedback — they are research; they are part of your education; they are necessary stepping stones if you are actually putting yourself out there and growing," Kerr says. "If you aren't ever making any mistakes, then chances are you aren't taking any risks or trying anything new, and as you get older that may end up being the costliest mistake of all." Vivian Giang contributed to an earlier version of this article. SEE ALSO: 11 Ways To Set Yourself Up For Success In Your Early 20s Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The 7 Worst Mistakes You Can Make Trying To Get A Promotion  | ||
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7. Change jobs three times.
11. Go out with your friends, even though you have work to do.
15. Think you have all the right answers. How the American economic story changed in just a few weeks | ||
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All of a sudden, the first quarter was gone. On April 2, just a few days after the first quarter officially ended — but still about a month before we'd get our first read on economic growth to start the year — the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tracker indicated that the economy did not grow at all to start the year. At that time, Wall Street was still expecting that the first quarter would show an economy that had slowed to start the year, but would still grow around 2%. Something, it seemed, was wrong. A few days later, the March jobs report showed that in the final month of the year's first quarter, the economy added the fewest number of jobs it had added in a year. In March, 126,000 jobs were created, far below Wall Street forecasts. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5%, and perhaps the most negative part of the report were revisions to prior reports, which saw jobs gains in both January and February decreased after the fact. This report served the latest disappointment in a winter that had been full of them, and was in the minds of many a sign that the economic story would not change in 2015: things still aren't that great. And it was just the beginning of the month that would completely change the conversation surrounding the economy. GDP Flop
At the end of April, the initial reading on first quarter GDP showed the economy grew just 0.2% to start 2015. In 2014, the economy contracted 2.1% to start the year, a move that was attributed to poor winter weather and an economy that simply wasn't all that robust. After a strong second half of the year, 2015 was supposed to be the year things changed. This time, it was supposed to be different. By the time we got to the April 29 GDP reading, the Atlanta Fed's model indicated that we'd see an economy that grew just 0.1% in the first quarter. This call, it turned out, was spot on. Even after significant forecast reductions during the quarter, Wall Street expectations still far overstated this first GDP number. Ahead of the report, Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna wrote that, "It is possible that GDP growth (specifically productivity) is being understated, because the income side of the economy has not experienced the same degree of weakness evident in the output figures." And despite a wide miss, economists held their ground. In a note following the Q1 GDP report, Paul Ashworth at Capital Economics wrote, "The 0.2% annualised gain will raise fears that the recovery is somehow coming off the rails but, just like last year, we anticipate a marked acceleration in growth over the remaining three quarters of this year. Over the past 12 months the economy has expanded by 3% and we would expect it to continue growing at around that pace this year too." The Federal Reserve, saw it this way, too. "Transitory"On the same day that we got the disappointing news about first quarter GDP growth, the Federal Reserve released its latest monetary policy statement.
The Fed, for its part, saw this slowdown as temporary, writing in its statement: "Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March suggests that economic growth slowed during the winter months, in part reflecting transitory factors." But even so, an economy that is slowing is an economy that is slowing. The idea that the economy would buck the recent pattern of below-trend growth — or even outright contraction — to start the year was over. In the Minutes from the Fed's April meeting, we got an inside look at what the Fed was thinking about during that April meeting. And these discussions indicated that the Fed raising interest rates in June was largely taken off the table. The same story was going to play out again. The r-word
Except we simply got more of the same. The May 13 report on retail sales showed that Americans were simply not spending money the way economists had been expected, especially after the crash in oil prices we saw in the second half of 2014. This disappointing report led some to declare that the US economy was heading for a recession, the word absolutely no one expected to come up in 2015. A recession, or two consecutive quarters of negative growth, is the kind of thing that would almost certainly put a Fed interest rate hike off the table. And while many would argue that with inflation still running below the Fed's 2% target, and wage growth still tepid, the Fed shouldn't be thinking about hiking rates anyway, a recession would make any argument moot. You simply don't tighten financial conditions into an economy that is slowing down. Earlier this week, we highlighted comments from Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid, who said we may well be looking at an economy that shrank in the first half of the year, as our old friend — the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tracker — currently indicates that the economy grew just 0.7% in the second quarter. Expectations for future revisions to first quarter GDP indicate that the economy may have shrunk 1% or more to start the year. Add these quarters together and you're in the red. A determined FedOn Friday, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen reiterated the view that the economic slowdown we saw to start the year was transitory. Speaking in Providence, Rhode Island, Yellen said: If confirmed by further estimates, my guess is that this apparent slowdown was largely the result of a variety of transitory factors that occurred at the same time, including the unusually cold and snowy winter and the labor disputes at ports on the West Coast, both of which likely disrupted some economic activity. And some of this apparent weakness may just be statistical noise. I therefore expect the economic data to strengthen. Yellen added: For this reason, if the economy continues to improve as I expect, I think it will be appropriate at some point this year to take the initial step to raise the federal funds rate target and begin the process of normalizing monetary policy.
And while it is doubtful anyone at the Fed would characterize their decision to raise rates as a "just because," sort of thing, the Fed is still clearly pointing itself towards a rate hike later this year. Earlier this week we highlighted an excerpt from the Fed Minutes that indicated the Fed is clearly concerned about potential negative reactions from markets to a change in monetary policy. In fact, some folks in markets believed Yellen would use her speech Friday as something like a trial balloon to see how markets handle indications that we're approaching a regime change. Markets, for their part, took Yellen's words on Friday in stride. "...any specific projection I write down will turn out to be wrong."In her speech on Friday, Yellen admitted that her outlook for Fed policy is predicated on an economic recovery that, in her mind, is coming up. But this is no guarantee.
And so whether or not the economy the Fed believes we have comes back to life or not is the million-dollar unknown. What we know is that the Federal Reserve expects the economy will be back. And if this is the case, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year. What we also know is that the economy performed worse to start the year than almost anyone foresaw, and a bounceback is no sure thing. How these tensions resolve themselves — a stubbornly soft economy and a stubbornly determined Fed — is the biggest question in markets for the rest of this year. A Federal Reserve rate hike could come and go without a hitch, making the market's collective hand-wringing all seem for naught. The economy could come storming back, leading us to ask if there isn't, perhaps, a problem with how we adjust for winter. Or, as happened in April, the conversation could change, leading us to ask a new set questions to a new set of problems. SEE ALSO: Janet Yellen's big admission Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This simple exercise will work out every muscle in your body  | ||
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The Fed said in March that it would not make a policy change in April, and so this report was all about how the world's most important central bank would asses the state of the world's largest economy. 
As April turned to May, the pressure was on, in a sense, for the economy to start turning it around. 
And so it seems that Yellen and the Fed are determined to move interest rates off 0%, where they've been pegged since December 2008. 
Making forecasts is a tricky thing. It is more or less guess work. And in her speech on Friday, Ireland 'changed utterly' by gay marriage vote | ||
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Dublin (AFP) - Ireland's newspapers said Sunday that the country had dramatically changed and confirmed its emergence from the shadow of the traditionally powerful Catholic Church by voting in favour of gay marriage. Tabloids and broadsheets alike carried colourful pictures of partying "Yes" supporters cheering the landslide referendum result Saturday as they reflected on what the decision meant for Ireland. The Sunday Independent, Ireland's biggest-selling newspaper, said the vote was truly "historic". "A new beginning" said its front page, which carried a picture of a lesbian couple who plan to marry as others in the background jumped in the air waving the rainbow flag. "On a fine day in May 2015 this country became a much more open, inclusive and modern society. With the mark of a ballot paper, hundreds of thousands of citizens voted by a large majority to leave behind those grey decades of a less tolerant Ireland," the broadsheet's editorial said. "Ireland has changed, changed utterly... in the voice of its young people, who have declared as one that nothing will ever be the same again." The Irish Sun on Sunday's front page read "Pride", with a picture of cheering Yes supporters. "Ireland officially emerged from the shadow of the Catholic Church yesterday to show its love and respect to people who have suffered here for centuries," it said.
- 'Being gay nothing to be afraid of' -
The Sunday World, Ireland's most-read tabloid, had jubilant drag queen Panti Bliss, a key figure in the "Yes" campaign, on its front page which read "Táll you need is love" -- tá meaning yes in Irish. "Irish voters shook the world and sparked a massive outpouring of joy by saying a historic 'Yes' to gay marriage," it said. The Sunday Business Post had a picture of a gay couple kissing as the sun shone through giant "Yes" balloons, while inside there was a cartoon of two men in a pink car reading "just married" driving over a rainbow. Other papers reflected on what the vote said about traditional views of Ireland. The Irish Sunday Mirror said a "No" vote would have reinforced "tired stereotypes of a small-minded, God-fearing Catholic country", but the result "knocked this notion out of the park". "The rainbow revolution," said the front page of The Irish Mail on Sunday, hailing "a vote that confounded many expectations about modern Irish society". "It transformed what was a moment of doubt about modern Ireland's self-image into a historical event overflowing with positivity," its editorial said. "The Irish stood up to say that ours in a country where being gay is no longer something to be afraid of." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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