Understand that few people, at least in Western culture, attain wealth or social status from whatever their passion(s) may be.
If your passion(s) is associated with a relatively low-paying career, consider the possibility of keep your passion(s) as a hobby, and pursue a career that pays well and allows you time for your hobby/passion outside of work.
Understand the tremendous power of long-term, compound interest. Saving money does not seem important at 18, but doing it now makes life a hell of a lot easier down the road.
Also, establish a credit history with something like a secured credit card.
terrible advice, how can he explore the world without trying things? just sightseeing?
try weed and different things, you need to build a strong character and that you can only do if you understand your limits well
you might as well understand that life isn't a real competition and actually enjoy your life, unlike people that will give you advice about career and work, but dread their lives.
Eh... I know someone that hates opiates including heroin, they just made them feel sick and want to sleep it off. Some people though do one hit and that is forever after their jam.
I know some people that don't like cocaine, it makes them feel jittery and uncomfortable at best. Some people take a hit of coke and it takes over their whole night and that's all they want to do for the rest of the night. I was never impressed.
Nictoine, arguably one of the most addictive substances ever, has always been one of my least favorite substances (to the point of being substantially less preferable than abstaining) despite constant exposure to it in my 20's from my friends. I never liked the feelings I got from it. Too much makes me sick and even a little gives me a headache.
I think that individual variation in brain chemistry and receptor density / locations, etc matters a LOT in that category. The trouble is... you just don't know what your chemistry is and what your brain is gonna like.
But if you do, know the thresholds. Hard liquor is what really messes people up. Don't drink alone. Don't hang out with people who insist you drink. Never drink because of feelings.
That's right, but I'm sure you agree that there are different levels of "not ready". I was thinking of writing "have kids when you no longer think it completely out of the question", but that's a bit complicated.
Budget. Time is on your side for building wealth. Start investing 15-20% of your salary passively in to the stock market in the most tax efficient way possible. Do it and don't look back. Don't lose faith.
Start thinking about where you want to be when you're 30-35 (wife? Kids? Career?) because you'll be there before you know it.
Your brain is still growing and changing with much more ease than someone who is 25 or older. So use these years where you can quickly learn and adapt well. But the other side of that coin is that you aren't emotionally matured yet and will look back at your actions in these years with much different eyes.
Don't stress too much about your education or career. Procastinate doing things you find interesting, but at the same time strengthen niche skills. Party now, when you hit 30 the hangovers will most likely be unbearable and take too much time. Live in a dorm and travel abroad alone, this will let you meet people you wouldn't have otherwise. Go to festivals. Have one night stands and non-binding relationships. Make mistakes and do stupid stuff, you will learn from it. Be a part of a subculture. Try not to hurt peoples feelings. Be nice and people will reprociate. Have fun.
If you are not from the south and move to the south, you will inevitably pick up a southern accent. It is unavoidable. This type of osmosis true of relationships too. You will pick up parts of your spouse's personality, for better or worse.
Depends what age you are when you move - under 20 you will change accent completely, over 25 you will hardly change at all, but will use different words/slang.
Just never ever cheat on your girlfriend/boyfriend. Break up with them for good first if you need to, but just don't cheat. It never works out for the best.
Don't don't. At your age you can avoid to burn the candle at both ends and in the middle (joke courtesy of Redd Foxx). Everyone telling you to not do X is just telling you that they had a problem with X.
The only piece of advice I can provide which I think is provably correct is to put as much money as you can spare into an S&P 500 index fund.
+1 on the health. At this point, you probably have a lot of time on your hands. Use some of that to learn how to be healthy. Exercise, food, cooking, etc.. are all deep rabbit holes to explore, so develop your baseline of knowledge and habits now so that you can fall back on them when life inevitably takes you away from them.
I thought I was a great developer for the last 5 years. Turns out I'm trash, and that's OK. The real value I bring is being a mediocre developer with great interpersonal skills and great communication ability.
Soft skills are just as important as tech skills.
Also, make sure you excerscise and eat right. So much pain and suffering can be avoided by just spending a couple hundred dollars on a nutrition class in your teens, and going on an hour walk each day.
This is absolutely correct. I'd go one step further and say over-communicate as needed. It's not stupid to ask questions. Ask away, process, and clarify.
Anyone giving you advice is giving you advice colored by their own experiences. When you do get advice, you'll have to translate it from their world to yours. If you don't understand someone's experiences and they don't understand yours, then it's unlikely you'll be able to translate it.
Just to pick an example--if you talk to an academic advisor in college, think about what kind of person becomes an academic advisor in the first place. Are they the kind of person you are?
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 140 ms ] threadUnderstand that few people, at least in Western culture, attain wealth or social status from whatever their passion(s) may be.
If your passion(s) is associated with a relatively low-paying career, consider the possibility of keep your passion(s) as a hobby, and pursue a career that pays well and allows you time for your hobby/passion outside of work.
Understand the tremendous power of long-term, compound interest. Saving money does not seem important at 18, but doing it now makes life a hell of a lot easier down the road.
Also, establish a credit history with something like a secured credit card.
try weed and different things, you need to build a strong character and that you can only do if you understand your limits well
you might as well understand that life isn't a real competition and actually enjoy your life, unlike people that will give you advice about career and work, but dread their lives.
I know some people that don't like cocaine, it makes them feel jittery and uncomfortable at best. Some people take a hit of coke and it takes over their whole night and that's all they want to do for the rest of the night. I was never impressed.
Nictoine, arguably one of the most addictive substances ever, has always been one of my least favorite substances (to the point of being substantially less preferable than abstaining) despite constant exposure to it in my 20's from my friends. I never liked the feelings I got from it. Too much makes me sick and even a little gives me a headache.
I think that individual variation in brain chemistry and receptor density / locations, etc matters a LOT in that category. The trouble is... you just don't know what your chemistry is and what your brain is gonna like.
See Allen Carr's pitcher plant analogy for a relevant mental model:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=yPlPhQNv3RcC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA...
Have kids when and if you're ready.
From my dad, "it's a lot more fun raising teenagers in your 40s than in your 60s".
Start thinking about where you want to be when you're 30-35 (wife? Kids? Career?) because you'll be there before you know it.
If you are not from the south and move to the south, you will inevitably pick up a southern accent. It is unavoidable. This type of osmosis true of relationships too. You will pick up parts of your spouse's personality, for better or worse.
It's true you'll make far more money starting your own company, if it is successful. Unfortunately, I don't have specific advice on how to do that.
Learning to invest, however, always works.
The only piece of advice I can provide which I think is provably correct is to put as much money as you can spare into an S&P 500 index fund.
number two: don’t look at others, don’t try to impress, you have your own path and your own destiny
number three: take risks, later you won’t be able to
number four: live frugally, invest into S&P 500 index
most importantly: be nice to people, you’ll never regret being nice
fixing health is significantly harder than not
setup an emergency fund, just in case
take care of teeth, avoid sugar
don’t start with alcohol, nicotine or other drugs
You can't improve yourself without feedback via communication.
You can't compromise without communication.
You can't have a meaningful relationship (work or romantic) without communication.
You can't build something useful without communicating with those you're building it for.
Life is all about communicating meaningfully with others. Don't put off figuring that out like I did.
I thought I was a great developer for the last 5 years. Turns out I'm trash, and that's OK. The real value I bring is being a mediocre developer with great interpersonal skills and great communication ability.
Soft skills are just as important as tech skills.
Also, make sure you excerscise and eat right. So much pain and suffering can be avoided by just spending a couple hundred dollars on a nutrition class in your teens, and going on an hour walk each day.
Just to pick an example--if you talk to an academic advisor in college, think about what kind of person becomes an academic advisor in the first place. Are they the kind of person you are?