The education system trains you to be useful, not unique. Most people spend their twenties following scripts others wrote, wondering why success feels empty.
The story
Here’s the thing nobody tells you: the education system wasn’t designed to help you become yourself. It was designed to help society run smoothly.
Attila B. Horvath nails this in the first two chapters of *The Journey – I wish I knew this before I was 21*. He points out that from day one, we’re conditioned to chase grades, job security, and skills that make us useful to others. Not skills that make us uniquely us.
The result? Most of us spend our twenties feeling like we’re following someone else’s script. We tick the boxes, climb the ladder, and wonder why we still feel empty.
Horvath introduces a concept called “individuation” – basically, the process of becoming your actual self instead of the person everyone else expects you to be. It’s not easy. It requires questioning everything you’ve been taught and deliberately building new habits and ways of thinking.
The chapters break down what this looks like in practice: self-education that goes beyond formal learning, managing your self-talk, learning from your failures instead of hiding from them, and using your uniqueness as a filter for what advice to follow or ignore.
Here’s what hit me hardest: your uniqueness isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s your actual success formula. But you have to actively dig it out from under all the layers of conformity you’ve been wrapped in since kindergarten.
Horvath’s message is simple but radical: stop following scripts written by others. Start building your own path. Take responsibility. Fail forward. Keep learning.
If you’re tired of feeling like you’re living someone else’s version of s
For more about Chapters 1-2 of Attila B. Horvath’s book, “The Journey – I wish I knew this before I was 21”, visit https://attilahorvath.net/the-journey.
