20 things I wish I could tell my 18-year-old self:
Make decisions that your 80-year old self and 10-year-old self would be proud of.

Your 80-year-old self cares about the long-term compounding of the positive and negative decisions of today.

Your 10-year-old self reminds you to stay foolish and have some fun along the way.
Most of your friends aren’t really your friends.

They’re just along for the ride when it’s fun, convenient, or valuable.

Your real friends are the ones who are there for you when its none of those things—there for you when you have nothing to offer in return.

Cherish them.
You won't know what you want to be when you grow up—and that's fine!

The idea that you should know what you want to do with your life by the time you're 18 is one of the greatest absurdities of modern culture.

Some of the greatest minds admit they are still figuring it out.
Stop caring so much what other people think of you.

You don't have to be all things to all people. Honestly, it's probably an impossible pursuit anyway.

If you're being different, moving fast, and making things happen, you're probably going to piss some people off.

That's ok.
Stop trying to be INTERESTING and focus on being INTERESTED.

Interested people are prone to giving their deep attention to something to discover more about it.

They open up to the world around them—they ask questions & observe.

Being interested is a key to a fulfilling life.
Create your own maps.

You can read every self-help book in the world and study every framework and mental model in existence, but ultimately the only way to learn is by fucking it up.

Reading and studying is nothing without battle-testing.

Make moves and create your own maps.
Call your parents more often—they won't be around forever.

When you're young and arrogant, death is a theoretical construct.

Realize the people you love won't be there forever.

If your parents are 60 and you visit once a year, you may only see them 20 more times in your life.
Finding the truth is much more important than being right.

The most successful people legitimately enjoy being wrong.

Learn to embrace new information that forces you to change your viewpoint—these are "software updates" that improve upon the old.

Open mindsets rule the world.
Cut the boat anchors out of your life.

As you continue to progress, there will be people who—intentionally or unintentionally—try to hold you back.

They tell you to come back home. They tell you to be realistic. They laugh at your ambition.

Eliminate them from your life.
Focus on the green lines, not the black lines.

Consider this image from @waitbutwhy:

Black Lines = paths closed
Green Lines = paths open

Stop focusing on the black lines behind you. Start focusing on all of the green lines before you.

It’s a future with immense opportunity.
Compartmentalization is a superpower.

The world's highest achievers have all developed an uncanny ability to compartmentalize.

They turn off all outside stressors and stimuli and focus exclusively on the task at hand.

If you can learn how to do this, the world is yours.
Not all decisions are reversible, but most of them are.

We have this false belief that all of our decisions are permanent. It holds us back from taking bold action.

The reality: most decisions are reversible.

Assume reversibility and focus on how costly the reversal will be.
Your college grades don't matter much, but your energy for learning does.

Never let school get in the way of your education.

Standardized curriculums and rote memorization won't get you very far.

Enthusiasm for learning and curiosity will.

Find what inspires you and go deep.
Learn the power of intensity and consistency.

Intensity is nothing without consistency.

Consistency is nothing without intensity.

When the two come together, you can move mountains.
Build a tribe of mentors.

Mentorship has become overly formal.

We are told to have ONE MENTOR who meets with you X times per month for X minutes.

It's a big ask of one person!

Instead, build a TRIBE OF MENTORS that is wide & deep.

Embrace the cross-pollination of insights.
You have to work hard to achieve great things.

It's in vogue to say that working smart is all that matters. I disagree.

I've never met a legendary winner who didn't work hard. Hard work will never go out of style.

To achieve great things, take pride in working hard AND smart.
Learn to take a punch.

It's important to have a plan.

But as Mike Tyson famously said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."

Life is going to punch you in the mouth. Learn to absorb and pivot on the fly.

It's hard to lose if you just keep getting up.
Learn to build OR learn to sell—better yet, learn to build AND sell.

To be successful, you either need to learn how to build or how to sell.

Not technical? That's ok—if you can sell, you'll always make it.

People who know how to build AND sell are unbeatable.

(h/t @naval)
You know nothing, but you're not alone.

Youthful arrogance and naïveté gets us into a lot of trouble.

The world is exceedingly dynamic and complex. It's ok to let your guard down and admit you know nothing.

It's ok to feel overwhelmed—you're not alone.
Focus your energy on building core foundational macro skills.

Macro skills include:
• Thinking
• Writing
• Learning

These skills are broadly-applicable to any future pursuits.

If you can master them, you'll always be able to find productive, fulfilling work.
Closed mouths don't get fed.

Sometimes all it takes is a little push.

If you want something—and you’ve done the work to deserve it—go ask for it.

Worst case—you’re told no.

Best case—it’s yours.
Stop fearing being different—your difference is your edge.

Growing up, we fear being different. We desperately want to fit in and avoid feeling alone.

Remember that being different is your edge—your ultimate competitive advantage.

No one can compete with you, at being you.
Stop following the paths that other people have created for you.

People will tell you to follow a specific, well-trodden path.

Create your own instead.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost
Ok, so that might have been more than 20…but they’re important lessons I wish I could tell my 18-year-old self.

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