Fair warning, I'm about to punch you in the gut before I pick you up. You're all over the place. You have no idea what you want. You're looking to everyone els

Fair warning, I'm about to punch you in the gut before I pick you up. You're all over the place. You have no idea what you want. You're looking to everyone else to shape your vision of what success is. Your problem is not that you're getting older, its that you are unfocused and lazy. Sorry to be so blunt but if you want to change your life you need to understand that you are doing it wrong. The good news is that you recognize that whatever you are doing, it isn't working for you. The past is gone and the present is rapidly slipping into the past so focus on the future where anything is possible. It sucks to know that you are the problem... but its great to realize that you don't have to force or convince anyone else to change in order to solve it. You only need to force or convince yourself. First thing, write down your goals. If you don't have goals that are so clear to you that you can just sit and write them down, you need to figure that out right away. Write on paper, with ink. Doing that changes your goal from a nebulous "maybe someday" in your mind to something that is tangible, in the real world. Your goals should become your external motivator. You haven't identified what you really want, so you don't feel motivated. Once you know the destination, just treat it like you would any other trip... plan out the route and walk in that direction. When you feel that "gnawing in your chest", use it as a reminder to ask yourself "how is whatever I am doing right now getting me closer to where I want to go?" And listen, turn off the television. Altogether. If you have a gun you might want to consider shooting it up. That shit is designed to make you feel like an inferior piece of crap so that you go out and buy some actual useless crap that they tell you will make you happy. You'd be better of smoking weed until your eyes are so crossed that everything looks like one of those Magic Eye posters. I know it sounds cliche, but it is literally true that today is the first day of the rest of your life. You can constantly compare yourself to the "hot-shot young dev" and find differences, but one thing that will always be in common between you is that the future only exists in your mind. It is up to you to decide what that future will be, and if you want to make it real. So just decide who the future "you" is, and start walking like that person right away. The future "you" is depending on it.