Advice to My Younger Self

Someone asked me once the advice I would give my younger self if I could travel back in time. Here's what I'd say.

Listen kid, I know it feels like you’ve got the world figured out. But the truth is 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘢. You’re going to be an old man much sooner than you think you are. Life happens faster than you can comprehend and you only get one shot.

Both incredible success and abject failure are real and distinct possibilities for your future. I already know which one you want and it’s time for you to start working on it. Based on what I’ve learned from living the next 25 years of your life here’s my advice to you:

𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞.

That’s right, you and only you are in charge. Not your parents, not your teachers, and not anyone else. Nobody else is in charge of your life and nobody else is responsible for your success. I know they say they are responsible for you, but that only means they have to feed you and keep a roof over your head until you turn 18 and graduate high school. Responsible for your well being and responsible for your success are two very different things.

𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧.

I know you think you’re not going to use what you’re learning in high school later in life. Guess what? You’re probably right.

You still need to do your homework and study so you can get good grades, but if you want to really learn something useful you’ll have to do that outside of school. Start reading books as fast as you can. I’m not talking about the classics - your English teacher will make you read those. I’m talking about books you can learn about life from. Study business leaders. Study politicians. Read Kiyosaki, Hill, Carnegie. Read books about founders and entrepreneurs. Read what they did, how they did it, and think about how you can apply what you’ve read. You’ll learn more from these books than you’ll ever learn in school.

𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞.

𝘈𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘵.Even if you can afford it you’re most likely not going to do anything but drink beer, chase girls, and take classes that will be of no use to you later on. At 16 years old you know nothing about what life, in general, is about and even less about what you want to do with your own life. If you go to college now you run a high risk of randomly selecting a major, graduating with a degree, and then defining the rest of your life by the name of that degree. Instead, take two years to really find yourself. Figure out a way to travel. Keep reading as many books as you can. Meet as many people as you can. Spend some time living and learning about the real world. After that, if college is what you really want, you can still go.

𝐏𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

I’m not talking about paying attention to your teachers, I’m talking about paying attention to the world around you. Things are changing fast. Go to the library and read the newspapers. In particular read news related to finance, technology, and health. There are people all around you who are revolutionizing the world. They are creating new things and new ways of doing business. Pay special attention to anything related to computers and car phones. There’s a digital revolution coming that’s absolutely changing the world as you know it right now.

𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥.

If you do the rest of these things you will learn more in those two years than you ever did in school. Write down what you’ve learned. Write down your thoughts. Most importantly write down your ideas. Think about how you can apply those ideas to problems in the world. The people who make the biggest impact on the world are the people who solve the biggest problems. After two years you’ll probably have the answer to some of those problems written down in your journals.

Most of all realize that you can live a big, full life. Most everyone around you is going to graduate high school, get a job and get married, have kids, then work their lives away for someone else with only a small hope of ever retiring. That might sound overly dramatic, but it’s true. You have options. You don’t have to follow the crowd and you don’t have to go with the flow.

Since you were a baby all the adults have been telling you that you can do anything you want. There’s truth in that cliche, but only if you start taking ownership of, and responsibility for, your life.

Right now.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐭.

This is extremely important for you at this age, and particularly over the next 10 years. There is a time and place for debt in life but right now isn’t one of them. Ingrain this in your mind now while you have no expenses. If you cannot afford something do not buy or do it. Do not borrow money from your parents or your friends under any circumstances. In two years you’ll be old enough to legally get a credit card. Do not do it. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙚𝙗𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.