I'll be 53 and have lived through a half century. Man, what a ride that's been so far.

Born at the beginning of the 1970s, I've seen the end of one official war and probably watched and lived through at least 20 unofficial ones. I've seen finance and the markets go from a singular U.S. market driving the wagon to a global market where the U.S. is serious afraid of a growing Dragon with China in the West and Europe upstarting in the East. We went to the moon and never went back, and now folks want to make a devil's run to mars in the NASA chatter. Politics actually made a bona fide idiot a president, and the rest of the politicians are scared shitless how crazy he was. Democracy was spouted as the mantra of the West for decades, yet today by our own willingness we living in a digital Big Brother world that would give George Orwell shivers at how reality really turned out versus 1984.

Yet, despite recessions, being one of those kids with no clear idea what I would be in life, and a big brave wacky world on the other side of the them vs. us Cold War, I've managed to secure the American Dream so far with a home, a family, a decent career, a decent retirement pension (yes, they still exist), and I'm actually looking forward to retirement soon. Who would have thunk that was possible in the 2020s?

Trust me, I'm not resting on my laurels. Today's 53 is like the 1980s 33. We're living longer, have more ways to get into serious debt problems, and we have to think about how we're going to work longer as well. My retirement isn't going to be my last day of work. It's simply going to be closing one career chapter and starting a new one. This isn't abnormal for me, but for my generation, Generation X, nothing has been normal at all.

We were the first generation, born as a product of the end of the 20th Century, that had to see our parents begin to fail at the American Dream and lose their retirements. The promise of, "go get an education and it will all work out" was smashed about as bad as dropping one's face on hard pavement and feeling all the teeth breaking inside a bloody mouth. We had to scramble, shuffle, scavenge, and improvise. At first, a lot of my generation stumbled. Nothing we were told by our Boomer parents worked. We got labeled "slackers" as a result. Then we stopped listening to them, starting getting mean and scarred by our experience, and Gen-X started finding its way. We scrapped and worked multiple jobs. I remember vividly coming out of college and going right back to the same job I did in high school, working as a short-order cook. Smoking cigarettes on breaks and smelling the onion juice impregnated permanently into my hands from prepping, I swore to myself I had to do better.

Finally getting into the work world was a short-lived celebration. It was long hours, and trying to get into a house was entirely out of reach. I was in my late 20s by then, and I realized sadly I was going to have to work more. I started with selling used motorcycle parts on eBay online. And that's when I realized having a side gig was a break-through way to get ahead finally. Instead of just working to pay the rent, I could focus on trying to at least make progress.

That was some 30 years ago.

Today also marks another birthday for me. It's probably the 18th year I've been working two jobs consistently, a full shift all day and then some, and working online at night at least another three hours on average. The English degree my parents made fun of has literally helped me stave off bankruptcy more than once. It's paying for my kid's education as well as groceries every month as well as our vacations. And savings, with some risk, has produced gains through crypto as well. My kids' nice teeth post-braces is testimony to that.

So when I read posts today that things seem to be getting hard, folks can't get into a home with their new family, it feels like one can't get ahead, and crypto and investing are all lies, I can tell you it's time to get your head above the water line and look ahead. I've been where you are. It's rough. It's always been rough. There are no handouts unless you were born rich or you're that 0.00001 percent who wins a lottery ticket. I've one two things in my entire 53 years, a $50 lottery ticket than gave me a free skateboard as a teen (which was stolen a month later), and an airdrop that paid for my first kid's braces. That's it. Everything has been sweated and worked for. But don't expect people to give you a title, recognition or praise for your hard work. There's just more work.

Instead, you need to think like a motorcycle racer on the track. Don't look at your tires on the road in front of you, look at where you want to be down the track. When you go into a turn, you should be looking at where you will come out of that turn. When you go over a hill, you should be looking for where it's going to dip and twist afterwards. If you think in terms of ahead, you position better and can respond faster. Don't wait for people to help you, promote you, or reward you. You have to go out and just grab your future all the time. Instead of spending four hours at night scrolling Reddit or Twitter, do something that generates income on the same or similar. Instead of spending your $10 on gourmet coffee, use an app to put it in ETH or something similar. You'll be surprised quickly how that attitude will be a game-changer for you.

Find opportunities where others miss it. That's how you make your personal success.