What Would You Tell Your 18 Y/O Self?

[Dennis Peacock]

If you could go back and tell yourself something about life, what would it be?

Learn to live below your means.
Work smarter, not harder.
Don't be quick to judge others, you never know how tough life is for them right now.
Extend compassion and understanding to all those you meet.
We all fail at things in life, pick yourself up and start again.
No matter what, learn to laugh at yourself.
It will feel better when it stops hurting.
Money is far harder to earn than it is to spend.
Work to live and don't live to work.
work hard so you can play harder.
Love deeply, be the shoulder that she leans on when she needs it.

[Mike Henderson]

Buy Microsoft stock and hold on to it.

Buy Apple when Jobs goes back to lead it.

Mike

[Ken Fitzgerald]

There is only 2 things guaranteed following birth.....death and change. You can't avoided either one. The secret to happiness is learning to differ between what in change you can affect, what you can't affect and learning to adapt to change.

[Doug Garson]

I think I knew much of what Dennis listed when I was younger, perhaps to a lessor degree than now. What I didn't know perhaps, was what impact taking care of yourself physically when you're in your 20's would have on you in your 70's. While I was always physically active, I never had a regular exercise routine. I suspect many of my aches and pains were preventable if I had.

[Joe Hendershott]

"Listen to the parents more."

Not sure at which point I looked back and understood they they were pretty smart but it was a couple years after 18.

[Jim Matthews]

Avoid contact sports.
Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

[Ron Citerone]

Read Jack Bogle's books and do what he suggests.

[Thomas L Carpenter]

Get your PhD.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Don't let your Mother drive when she is tired and distracted.

[Kevin Jenness]

Lower your expectations, then you won't be disappointed.

[Dan Hunkele]

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[Stan Calow]

Eat healthier, wear sunscreen, and be a better friend.

[Prashun Patel]

Save early.

Be present for family and friends.

Say Yes to everything.

Travel young. Travel far.

Listen more, speak less.

Be patient with everyone and believe that everyone is or wants to be good.

[Kev Williams]

I wouldn't tell ME as an 18 YO anything. Who I'd talk to were the adults who, for example, chastised me for doing something wrong, while not noticing that I was VERY GOOD at it...

Example- as a young teenager I really didn't understand the nuances of actual football rules and tactics. So whenever gym class has us play football, I was told to "rush". I was stupid enough to believe 'rush' meant 'do things fast'. So rather than actually rushing the QB, instead I would figure out where he was going to throw the football, and almost always intercepted the thing. I got yelled at and benched by the coaches for not rushing as I was told, yet the fact that I was extremely adept at catching the ball instead of those who were supposed to catch it, went unnoticed.

I really don't have a lot of 'if I only knew then what I know now' moments... ;)

[Bruce Page]

Turn the music down. Always where hearing protection when needed.

[Rob Luter]

Shut up and listen.

[Doug Dawson]

The world is so much different now than when I was 18.

I would tell myself to pay less attention to what other people think and say, and try to look at the bigger picture.

[Brian Deakin]

After my dads death I was responsible for all of my mums financial affairs .I was always very careful with her money and I invested a considerable amount of time making what I believed were the best decisions

What I should have done instead is invested more of my time sitting with mum holding her hand and listening

It was not until after her death it struck me the only people who touched her were the careers and people did thinks for her but no one was really spent time listening to mum

So go my friend sit down with your mum/dad and the ones you love hold thier hand and listen

[Jerome Stanek]

Don't sell he Mcdoanlds stock I bought as a school project.

[Wade Lippman]

To ignore my parents and trust my own judgement.
I was nearly 40 before I realized just how stupid they were.

[Wade Lippman]

Eat healthier, wear sunscreen, and be a better friend.

And brush my teeth more seriously.

[Mike Henderson]

To ignore my parents and trust my own judgement.
I was nearly 40 before I realized just how stupid they were.

There's a joke that's the opposite of that.

"When I was 18 I was amazed at how dumb my father was.

When I was 25, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in those few years."

Mike

[Derek Meyer]

Save all the money you can, and when Apple stock bottoms out in the mid 90's, buy. If I had done that, I'd be retired now.

[roger wiegand]

The "Golden Rule" is horrible advice-- treat people as they would like to be treated, not how you want to be treated.

Related to the above, people's feelings really matter to them (more so than data, I discovered to my eventual amazement) and you need to take those feelings seriously and account for them to get along in the world.

[roger wiegand]

Save all the money you can, and when Apple stock bottoms out in the mid 90's, buy. If I had done that, I'd be retired now.

I actually made a pretty respectable amount of money buying Apple on bad news (around $10) and selling on good (around $20) over the first 10-15 years, which it cycled through quite reliably, then I got off the bus way too soon and missed it going up a thousand-fold. Oh well!

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

when I was 20 years old, I actually put a $300 deposit on a small mountain farm of 58 steep rocky acres for 28K. I had saved over 15K and actually qualified for a mortgage. I had overheard two state engineers talking about a state park to be developed across the street. My parents talked me out of the purchase. Wanting me to stay in college. Well the State park went in, An interstate went in with an exit just 7 miles away, The lake was eventually built and the farm, having a panoramic view overlooking the lake, 8 years later, sold for over 770k. A fancy hotel and resort was built on the property. I did not loose my $300 deposit. I sold my purchase contract to a college acquaintance for $500. I then blew the $500 on a used Italian motorcycle. I rode it a few years and then put it in storage. I gave the Moto Guzzi to my son and he paid a guy $200 to get it running,. He then took the bike to a dealership that specializes in antique motorcycles and he got a little over 4 thousand dollars for it.

[Mike Cutler]

Go for it, and don't hold back.

[Erik Loza]

Go for it, and don't hold back.


This ^^^

In no particular order for myself:
-Lived abroad
-Gone for a career in vo-tech or in the trades rather than wasting several years going to college, "thinking" that was what I wanted to do. Only because that would have been a better fit for me.
-Made my default setting "say yes" rather than "I want to think about it" (which was really an excuse for being afraid to try).
-Actually listened to more experienced folks.

My wife's bestie has a daughter in her 20's. This girl joined the Peace Corp right out of college and lived in Tanzania for several years. Helped local folks learn how to farm, water management, etc. She's this White girl from the burbs but speaks Swahili, given of herself to help others, and done more with her life in her 20's than probably many of us. I think that's all pretty awesome.

Erik

[Ken Barney]

If I'm being honest about it, I couldn't tell my 18 y/o self anything. At 18 I thought that I already knew everything.

-Ken

[Wade Lippman]

There's a joke that's the opposite of that.

"When I was 18 I was amazed at how dumb my father was.

When I was 25, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in those few years."

Mike

Oh how I wish that were true!

[Wade Lippman]

I actually made a pretty respectable amount of money buying Apple on bad news (around $10) and selling on good (around $20) over the first 10-15 years, which it cycled through quite reliably, then I got off the bus way too soon and missed it going up a thousand-fold. Oh well!

I did that with Kodak in 2009. I bought it at 1, sold at 5. Bought at 1, sold at 5. Bought at 1, sold at 5. Bought at 1. Bought more at .9. More at .8. More at .7. Bailed when it went up to 1 again. I had a good year in 2009; made 190%.

[Andrew Seemann]

If I'm being honest about it, I couldn't tell my 18 y/o self anything. At 18 I thought that I already knew everything.

-Ken

I would agree. There are a ton of things that I wish I could have told my 18 year old self, but I was far too stupid and stubborn at 18 to have listened to any of them. Having my oldest just turn 18, I am very poignantly reminded of this:)

At the same time, the wisdom I have now probably was the result of being that stupid (good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement). If I could tell myself something and hope I listened to it, it probably would be something on the lines of "You don't have to learn everything the hard way, dumb@ss"

[Dave Zellers]

I think you guys are being way too hard on yourselves. Being stubborn and then learning things the 'hard' way is often the best path to knowledge. Just listening to your parents and doing what they say leaves you with a "what if?" thought in your head. More than likely, your parents went through the exact same process. They are/were just happy to see you arrive at the same conclusion, as they did. And their parents before them. It is the very best way of teaching- show the way, but allow the child/student to confirm it for themselves.

[Steve Demuth]

If I'm being honest about it, I couldn't tell my 18 y/o self anything. At 18 I thought that I already knew everything.

-Ken

Exactly what I was going to write.

(We need a "like" button in this forum)

[Steve Demuth]

First, I want to say that in many ways I did this experiment for real, in a back-handed sort of way, in my 40s, as my two children aged through late adolescence into early adulthood. That is, I tried to make sure they understood the things I had not. Not sure it was of any use - telling 18 year-olds anything is an exercise in how to communicate ideas without saying them, since whatever you say directly is going to land wrong if it sounds too much like advice - but they turned out well, and whatever mistakes they've made, they are at least different from the ones I made, so maybe some of it stuck.

So, the three things I most wish I had done differently from age 18 on until I finally became an adult (which in some ways is still a work in progress):

1. Trust your in close friends, including, hopefully, your spouse. Do for them, and accept from them. They will make you a better person, and make your life better, if you give those relationships proper care and feeding. In those few relationships that work, and matter, you cannot give too much, because you always receive more than you give.

2. Choose two or three of your passions and stick to them. You can't excel at everything, but if you put your body and soul into it, you can make a difference for the good in a couple of areas. See #1, and make sure it's one of the three.

3. You don't have to do everything for yourself. Make use of the services of others. You won't have time for #1 and #2 above if you do everything yourself, just because you can and it saves a few bucks.