I'm 46. This is what I'd tell my 20 year-old self:
1. Make friends with the right sort. Avoid the so-called "cool kids" of your 20's, the losers and posers and drinkers and stoners who are going nowhere. They're cool at 20, losers at 40. Instead, make friends—good friends—with ambitious, smart, low-key guys. Some will be dweebs, others considered uncool, but by the time they're 45, they'll be the winners, while the posers and losers and so-called "cool guys" of your 20's will be on unemployment.
2. Bang escorts and hookers—lots of 'em—to get rid of Oneitis and fear of women.
3. Don't be afraid of risks, or of failing. Fear of failure often impedes success. Corollary to this, always-always-always shoot for the moon. I was advised to apply only to state schools—instead I applied to Ivy League schools, while kids with better grades and scores were too intimidated. Guess what, I got into two Ivies (and no, they weren't UPenn or Brown or Cornell, they were real Ivies).
4. Learn to sell, learn to negotiate, and learn to haggle. A friend of mine gave his three kids each $100, told them to go to those guys selling fake Rolexes on Union Square, with the condition that whoever bought the most number of fake Rolexes for $100 would be excused from their chores for a month—best lesson ever.
5. Learn to pimp. That is, understand that to make money—real money—working is not enough. You have to get OTHER PEOPLE to work FOR YOU. In other words, pimping. You have a company, get the programming contract for 10,000 hours of work—then get the bitches (programmers) to do the work, while you get the money. The essence of capitalism.
My 2¢.
1. Make friends with the right sort. Avoid the so-called "cool kids" of your 20's, the losers and posers and drinkers and stoners who are going nowhere. They're cool at 20, losers at 40. Instead, make friends—good friends—with ambitious, smart, low-key guys. Some will be dweebs, others considered uncool, but by the time they're 45, they'll be the winners, while the posers and losers and so-called "cool guys" of your 20's will be on unemployment.
2. Bang escorts and hookers—lots of 'em—to get rid of Oneitis and fear of women.
3. Don't be afraid of risks, or of failing. Fear of failure often impedes success. Corollary to this, always-always-always shoot for the moon. I was advised to apply only to state schools—instead I applied to Ivy League schools, while kids with better grades and scores were too intimidated. Guess what, I got into two Ivies (and no, they weren't UPenn or Brown or Cornell, they were real Ivies).
4. Learn to sell, learn to negotiate, and learn to haggle. A friend of mine gave his three kids each $100, told them to go to those guys selling fake Rolexes on Union Square, with the condition that whoever bought the most number of fake Rolexes for $100 would be excused from their chores for a month—best lesson ever.
5. Learn to pimp. That is, understand that to make money—real money—working is not enough. You have to get OTHER PEOPLE to work FOR YOU. In other words, pimping. You have a company, get the programming contract for 10,000 hours of work—then get the bitches (programmers) to do the work, while you get the money. The essence of capitalism.
My 2¢.