Mark Cuban says the "most important" advice he gives his children is simple: It's OK not to know exactly what you want to do with your lives.
The tech billionaire and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks had to reassure his oldest daughter, Alexis, when the Vanderbilt University sophomore admitted she's "not sure" what career to embark on, Cuban told GQ on Tuesday.
"Everybody goes through that process of trying to figure out who they are," Cuban, 65, said, adding that he told his daughter: "You don't have to know what you're going to be. Because everything's always changing. And you're changing, and you're evolving."
Plenty of teens and college students are uncertain about their career paths, rather than having their entire futures already set in stone. Cuban tells his own kids that's fine, just as long as they work hard to keep their options open and continue learning new skills.
"What you've got to be able to do is be agile and excited about learning — to be curious," Cuban said. "That's what's most important. If you're curious, and you're agile, you'll get there eventually. It might not happen when you want it to, but you'll get there eventually."
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The ability to seek out and learn new skills as time passes — sometimes referred to as a growth mindset — is often cited as a key to success. It can be especially helpful while trying to prepare for an uncertain future, where the most valued skills and knowledge are constantly changing.
Psychologists often advise parents to avoid putting too much pressure on teens and college students to map out their futures: Many young people already have anxiety over getting into college, picking a major or settling on a career. Experts sometimes urge parents to remind their children that there's more than one path to success, and finding your ideal path can take time.
The children of billionaires might have less to worry about than the average teenager, but Cuban said recently that he and his wife Tiffany adamantly tell their children that they must strive to achieve their own success in life.
Cuban himself can also relate, having navigated plenty of uncertainty in his own youth. Years before founding his first successful company, he spent some post-college years sleeping on the floor of an apartment he shared with five friends after being fired from three straight jobs.
On Tuesday, he offered up his own experience as an example how it's OK to be young and not quite have your life figured out yet.
"When I was in my early 20s and I was broke — like, on my ass broke — I was terrified," said Cuban. "I was having fun, I enjoyed my life. But you're not two, three years out of college, sleeping on the floor, just having gotten fired, and thinking, 'This is exactly the way I planned it.'"
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