I just turned 18, Do you have any advice on how to not fuck up my adult life ?
Hey! Been a lurker for a while.
Sorry if this post seems weird, this is my first post ever so thanks to anyone that replies, anything helps.
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I am a girl, forgot to say that
I see you learn fast
?
Don't get any girls pregnant. IDK how child support works in other countries so ymmv
Don’t drink and drive. Get a perfect GPA in college.
Oh shit, Isaiah replied!!
You’re dope, man
Disagree with the perfect GPA
Not sure you would want to tell Isaiah you’re a girl if you just turned 18
Isn’t he married or something?
bro who are you I've seen you multiple times today. in the nicest way and most intrigued way what's your job bc I saw you post 7 comments on one post and instantly reply to me.aka(do you have a life) jkjk because how tf r you rated the pro I've been on here 10 times during class today but like Jesus your rank is high. Also if your like super rich and super successful pls hire me.
My experience is in corporate finance, analytics, and management consulting. Currently though, I just help to take care of family.
I'm typically on WSO when playing poker as well, which I am right now. In 64 of 333 on a $30K GTD tournament. Just living the dream.
Buddy you’re in love with the 4.0, curious to know what you got in college?
3.64 - I didn't get the 4.0 memo until Junior year. Now I wish to educate on striving for 4.0 as I didn't receive guidance until too late. My GPA was always 'low' in IB interviews.
I had two friends from my school with a 3.96 and 4.00 GPA who got into IB and I didn't. My friend with the 4.00 was valedictorian in his class and now is an MD at JP/GS/MS. The guy with the 3.96 went IB and then to McKinsey.
Can you be more specific? Or seeking general advice?
Just advice in general
wear a condom, get a high gpa, don't hang around people who don't care about their future, don't hangout with people who do drugs (outside of weed, but maybe even then don't). You follow those rules you should be in a better spot than 50% of our population.
Totally agree. Couldn't emphasize high GPA enough, AND your grades matters too --- the specific A, B, Cs. Make sure you do well in classes you don't enjoy. Not kidding.
In terms of condoms, wear thin ones. Okamotos are good.
Get pipe
Get off of Tiktok and Instagram and spend your time with family and friends instead of screens
sup Lloyd
Do not fall into the credit card trap! If you buy something with your card, which you should as it builds credit and comes with rewards depending on the card, PAY IT OFF EACH MONTH! I was stupid in my 20s and next thing I know I had 10k in credit card debt I had to pay down while working part-time trying to complete undergrad
Spend time with your family and friends, go out and do shit, travel, have good parties, have good sex, don't focus so much on social media, etc. If you're gonna booze it up or do drugs, just remember to be safe and know what you're doing and where you got it from etc (I'm not against this stuff in the slightest). Try to balance this with focusing on doing well in college, but I never found it worth letting the grind for a 4.0 dominate your life. Its fun to have lots of friends, but your true closest friends should be the ones that genuinely give a fuck about you. Those are people you can count on for life. Find some of them. It's good to surround yourself with people who aren't just your friends but are also your biggest supporters. Also try to stay in good shape, you'll thank yourself for that one. Idk just keep living your life.
The trick is getting the 4.0 and not have it dominate your life. Study hard - party harder.
True, some people can do that but I'm kinda dumb so wouldn't work for me. Had to find the balance since I'm more of a 3.4 guy.
A. Learn everything you can from everywhere and anyone, and never stop learning - read every periodical you find, on the bus or train, in the doctors office - know what everyone else knows. Be able to discuss hairstyle trends with your stylist FROM THEIR PERSPECTIVE. Perry Farrell said "I want to know how to dress to fit every occassion, I want to know everybody's slang."
B. Live. Someone needs a buddy for the Wayne Newton show? Go. Roadtrip for Dunkin's in Ipswitch? Go. Fried insects on the menu? Taste them. When picking travel, go to the scary places when you are young enough to run - go to Havana and buy a cigar and buy rum on the malecon at 3 a.m for a bunch of kids, go to Amman and take a taxi to Rainbow street for mint tea, go boating on the Amazon.
C. Make new friends, but keep the old. Not BS social media friends, real friends - don't go more than 60 days without texting someone that you want to keep in your life. Encourage all your friends to be the best they can be. Have honest conversations with them if you think they are tearing you down - if not satisfied, then move them out of your life.
D. Believe in a higher power. Don't want to? Okay, imagine the alternative - this whole experience on earth is a total mind fuck of 'do the right thing' when we should be humping like rabbits and wasting away in margaritaville, instead of chosing the "right" mate and living in dirty, inclement Mid-Atlantic concrete jungles earning enough to pay taxes so the frickin garbage haulers can earn 100K. There has to be something beautiful about this world and our purpose, even if we haven't all found it. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for? (Browning)
E. Take pride in yourself. That doesn't mean run around with banners saying "yay me." It means, do the best you can FOR YOURSELF. Not for your boss or mate or teacher or politican, FOR YOU. In HS I was given a chemistry assignment - on a list of 30 chemicals, needed to find 16 in and around my house for an A - and about half a dozen of us VOLUNTARILY found all 30 - the benefit was not for a grade, but to my own edification. Exercise, it is the last mile, the last rep that does the most good - so push yourself. Downtime at a restaurant, find something to clean. Downtime at an internship, find something to read. Downtime in a bank, do some business development. Downtime at home, text a friend to let them know you are thinking of them. Be the person you WANT to be.
F. Stop caring about whether you are unique. At some point society because cacophonous with everyone chirping about themselves. Be yourself, with confidence, and that is way more than enough.
G. We have thousands of years of evolution backing the road to success. Yes, there is a shit-ton of ugliness along the way. Education and hard work are not going to position you for a queenship, but no culture rewarded a lack of education, sloth, angry attitude (other than Lemmy Kilminster, RIP), poor hygiene, etc. Don't be so quick to discard it for some trendy, in-vogue way of doing things, or think Steve Jobs was able to have poor hygiene (and remember, he got fired from Apple the first time). Circumstances will change, and you may be caught with your pants down - (most) everything in life is a choice and decision, and making a choice is choosing a path that frequently excludes something - if you don't get a college degree, you won't be a microbiologist or banker or consultant, but you can still go work at TGIFridays and get drunk every night. If you do the latter, Harvard isn't really looking for 25 year old drunks with 6 years waiting tables experience. Do what you want, but make sure you are fully aware of the consequences of those decisions - and, accept them. Don't say "I got screwed because George Bush gave me a crap economy" - the reality is, everything is a gamble, including college - accept the fact that YOU made the wager, and remember the quote about guarantees.
H. Don't ever give up.
I. Don't let anyone have nude photos of you.
Why specifically the dunks in Ipswich lol
There are only so many reasons to go to Ipswitch . . . . Dunkin's and maybe a girl you met on the Cape over the summer . . . .
Great comment. I am out of SB :(
there is always a camera watching and recording...so beware doing anything you would not want a future employer / boyfriend / husband / future children to know about. Nothing on the internet is private...there is no such thing as anonymity anymore...
How’s life in Shanghai?
Don't take this forum or life too seriously (emphasis on this forum). Lot of people above me said get a 4.0, but that's not life advice and it shouldn't be what to strive for in your young adolescent years. Make good friends, make better memories, experiment with drugs, have good sex, do well in school, and keep a 5-year plan in the back of your mind at all times. If you can balance all that, at 23 you'll be a much better and happier person.
Not life advice? Ok. Yeah so the answer is do both. Party hard and get the 4.0. I didn’t say to stay cooped up in the library all day.
I received mostly As in college, but could have done better. Also I did study abroad twice - was a blast - highly recommended.
Also, maybe getting a 3.5 or something to get into IB worked for you, but it doesn't work for most. Most people especially from smaller schools have to differentiate themselves and getting a 3.9 or 4.0 is a good way to do so. You simply said that striving for a 4.0 isn't the path without much info on how you were successful with seemingly a lackluster GPA. There are a lot of factors here, but to give yourself the most career opportunities is to strive for a 4.0. I wish someone told me this when I was 18 and now I am telling it to the OP and you are refuting it without any evidence on your part, which is a pretty weak comeback overall.
All in all, it seems you were likely a low GPA outlier for your position and you scraped by to get in, but most will not have that luxury.
don't bang smack ;)
what I wish I knew at 18
1. don't load up your schedule for MWF and then have one class at 3pm on Tue/Thu, you'll get your worst grade even though it's an easy subject (happened to me)
2. the things that happen socially to you now that seem like such a big deal do not matter at all later in life, whatever you're feeling (elation, rejection, despondency, excitement) is temporary. savor the moment, or if it's negative, realize it's not going to be this way forever
3. set goals. write out what you want your resume to look like in 2, 4, 6, 10 years to help you affirm what's really important to you and put you on a path to self improvement. you may not arrive at those exact destinations, but you should arrive in a pretty good spot
4. you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. choose these people carefully. everyone needs degenerates to have fun with, but you shouldn't be spending your Sundays and Mondays with them, if you follow that.
5. get an exercise regimen NOW. I was always naturally thin and in shape because of surfing plus high school athletics/conditioning and I maybe worked out twice a month my freshman and sophomore year of college. that was a mistake. it's WAY easier to stay in shape, and that discipline will help you in so many things
6. read more books (non textbooks), read less social media. if you need recs, let me know, but just read
7. adults really don't mind giving advice, what they don't want is unsolicited requests for favors. I wish I had begun doing informational interviews far earlier than my senior year, meeting people in various fields, asking them how they got to where they were, what they liked/disliked about it, what advice they have for someone like me. most of the things that have really helped me aren't written down anywhere (unless I've regurgitated it on WSO)
8. take strange electives. I got FAR more out of my philosophy and religion, geology, and music classes than I did out of any economics class. be well rounded
9. imagine what you're about to say, write on social media, or do (either in class, public, a bar, whatever) will be seen/read by your grandmother. conduct yourself in this manner always. do not cheat people, do not lie, do not steal, do not cut corners.
10. avoid getting pregnant
11. study abroad. I carry 2 regrets in life: not serving in the military and not studying abroad. don't make the same mistakes I did.
12. stay away from hard drugs, and for the love of god stay away from downers. weed, psychedelics, and a little booze is all you really need. I'm not saying don't do drugs, I'm saying don't do the ones that have a high probability of ruining your life (opiates, meth, random pills, xan, and coke to a lesser extent. I'm personally not a fan of blow at all, but I know plenty of people who use it on weekends and have functioning lives. that said, the friends I have who don't do it are more successful, for whatever that's worth, though I don't think it's a causal factor.
13. mind your money. I had zero financial education coming into college and I wish I'd gotten advice sooner. educate yourself. plenty of resources out there from books to blogs (like financial samurai to money mustache, etc.), but don't get into credit card debt at all, live off cash and debit cards or apply for a CC but keep it in a block of ice in the freezer.
14. agree 100% with [lloyd blankfein] on social media. minimize your time spent there and be aware of your digital footprint, for better or worse it could affect your job prospects so in my opinion the best thing to do is just avoid it altogether.
15. last and probably most important, HAVE FUN. the amount of success differential from someone with a 3.7 to someone with a 4.0 assuming equal ability is slim to none, yet the amount of fun the 3.7 person has will be exponentially higher than the 4.0'er. most of my fondest memories from college were spending a day at the beach with the boys, chilling hard, and then making up for it in the library sunday night. you won't remember than B+ in 10 years, but you'll most certainly remember that campfire.
feel free to follow up/PM with more Q's. you're gonna go far, kid
Which books would you recc?
Guardian (UK) has a list, so does greatestbooks.org, NAS (National Association of Scholars), Booklit, the American Scholar, Pulitzer fiction and non-fiction winners, O Henry prize winners (short stories). That should give you about 3500 or so . . . .
If in college, borrow all the books your friends read for classes (history, poly sci, anthropology, literature, Russian literature, just about anything) - take them home for the summer and return them in the fall.
as for genres? I think everyone would benefit from a knowledge of history, philosophy, war, economic theory, science, math, and the fiction of your choice
as for specifics?
everything by seneca the younger, aristotle & descartes
the Bible
Thomas Aquinas's summa theologiae
meditations by aurelius
leviathan by hobbes
7 habits by covey
ben franklin autobiography
how to win friends by carnegie
fahrenheit 451 by bradbury
incerto by taleb
iliad and odyssey by homer
man's search for meaning by frankl
death of ivan ilyich by dostoevesky
everything written by jocko willink
walden by thoreau
self reliance by emerson
on liberty by john stuart mill
others that are on my desk but not yet finished
kant's critique series
dostoevesky - crime & punishment, & notes from underground
tolstoy - war & peace & ana karenina
keynes treatise on probability
complete works of cicero
karl marlantes
and whole, whole lot more
of note: I've read many war books, both fiction and nonfiction and watched plenty of documentaries. I think everyone would benefit of a knowledge of major wars over the last 2000 years. much of the same bullshit that happens today has roots in the past and only by studying history can you more completely study the present
finally, I'm not big on fiction, the real world is far more interesting to me. that said, the last fiction book I read that I couldn't put down was zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by pirsig, amazing
godspeed
Emphasizing travel. One day you will be working and have responsibilities and NEVER AGAIN have the flexibility that you have now. Study abroad, do summer/winter programs in cool cities, summer jobs in vacation areas, and maybe something like WWOOF or equivalent. I know it is expensive but not traveling is the single biggest regret of people my age, about 10 years older than you.
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Hey man, I may be a wacko, but I never said I was unemployed. Get your facts straight before you start dissing people. Also, I’ve given sound advice in this thread so to do the opposite of what I recommended would be to get shoddy grades. It seems like you’re the one with the bad advice. Name one thing on here among my thousands of posts that is bad advice. Oh sorry - you can’t. You’re just making up nonsense and hiding behind your anonymous persona.
You said to get a 4.0 the opposite of which is not getting a 4.0. That doesn’t mean get shoddy grades.
Furthermore, I recently turned down a PE offer to continue caregiving and being there for my family. What have you done lately to help others?
I'm still in school but I've accomplished a lot for being a retard. never get imposters syndrome stupid imo. and try to look where you want your life to be in 20 yrs personally and professionally. take steps to achieve every aspect of that. people really arent lying when they say u can do anything if you have grit I've found. you just need to look in yourself. often the people around you are the status quo and If ur on this site In hs u have more drive than them.
I like this advice a lot, thank you ;)) that was very nice of you
Go to the best ranked college you can and get the highest GPA possible.
Surround yourself with ppl who are internally motivated, driven and focused.
Don't forsake your health - eat well and work out regularly.
Try to have a vague idea of your long term goals and always work towards them.
Most important, never ever ever given up on your goals.
Best of luck!
The most important thing for me was realizing that now you can get in really serious trouble. If you do something stupid it can seriously screw up the rest of your life. Getting convicted of a crime is not a joke. You don't have the option of being charged as a minor, you're an adult. I try and keep that in mind when I'm about to do something retarded.
Beyond that I would say it's important to spend time thinking about the person you want to be and the life you want to build. Finance or not it's important to have a plan. So many kids drop out of college/have no direction in their life. Is that really the person you want to be?
Don't forget to have fun. Only so much time before you enter the real workforce.
The advice to expiriment with drugs is irresponsible. Don't do heroine.
Be grateful for the little things. Try to enjoy things and the people you’re with as much as you can .
Don't take life too seriously, enjoy the time in college. Don't get a kid too early, do well enough in school.
Why bother with a kid at all? The fun in life seems to stop at kids or a mean spouse.
it'll hit you one day
Personally I viewed college as a place to get firsthand experience with hundreds of different archetypes of people. Those who view college as the book in front of them or the text on the slides lose out on a lot of invaluable reps building relationships and having conversations. Be the person in class that the teachers know and respect, not the "know it all." Get good grades, but sometimes it is more beneficial to console a friend through a hardship rather than study the night before an exam.
Don't drink and drive.
Don't drink and drive.
Don't drink and drive.
Work hard, but fuck harder
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