
Ask YC: What would you tell your younger self? - Jasber
If you could tell your younger self one thing what would it be?<p>I was curious what the YC crowd would say to this.<p>Personally, I'd tell myself  to live for the moment. Don't worry about the future too much, as long as you have a good head on your shoulders things will work out. Before you know it years have flown by and you'll wonder where they went.<p>So, what would you tell yourself?
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sivers
I got to do this! It's a great exercise.

My college (Berklee College of Music) asked me to give a talk to the incoming
freshmen class on opening day. I wrote it by asking, "What would I tell my
younger self?"

I called it "6 things I wish I knew the day I started Berklee" and came up
with these 6:

#1 : Focus. Disconnect. Do not be distracted.

#2 : Do not accept their speed limit.

#3 : Nobody will teach you anything. You have to teach yourself.

#4 : Learn from your heroes, not only theirs.

#5 : Don’t get stuck in the past.

#6 : When done, be valuable.

Some of those won't make sense on their own, so you can read the full version
at <http://sivers.org/berklee> or watch it at
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxYt--CFXK0>

~~~
ChaitanyaSai
That was a good talk! I am guessing most of us have regrets and/or proven
recipes for our younger selves. However, I do wonder if simply pointing to a
list would have helped me. The process by which we arrive at these points is
more important, and that seems to be introspection after missing (or meeting,
but rarely does success lead to introspection) childhood goals. Unfortunately,
I don't think I would have valued introspection over poorly thought out
reasoning for why my existing trajectory would lead straight into the lush
fields of success.

Would I have, I wonder, been more receptive if I had been asked to meditate on
why the counter to any prescription was bad? Why, for instance, was focus
important enough to trump the sheer enjoyment of youthful disorientation and
distraction?

------
ice_man
Some day you will have the unique opportunity to talk to yourself from the
future, don't blow it like I just did.

------
teuobk
I like Mark Twain's take:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you
didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover."

------
pg
Don't worry about trying to impress people. Just work hard on things you like.

Don't get into debt.

~~~
unalone
Out of curiosity (I think that's sound advice through-and-through): would you
say the same thing to the dramatic socialite?

Most of my friends are part of the theatre circle: for a lot of us, impressing
people and seeming really cool doesn't come from a desire to be liked, but
from the thrill of getting reactions from crowds. It's more the act of people
who specialize in trying to handle crowd emotions. Is that a separate thing,
or would you bundle that sort of community attitude as attempted impressing?

~~~
pg
That's kind of an edge case. But even within acting there's a distinction
between actually wowing audiences and trying to seem impressive. The American
Repertory Theater in Cambridge is a good example of what not to do.

------
samson
I would say rather to your current self to live and work in such a way that
the person you were a year ago would be proud to shake the hand of the person
you are today. And every year both in the effort that you put and the
integrity that you keep, your year ago self would would still shake your hand.

A personal note a little over a year ago I didn't know MySQL,Javascript, or
PHP. I taught all three to myself and have become quite good or at least
competent to develop whatever I can think of.

~~~
woodsier
I'm in a similar situation regarding wanting to know MySQL, PHP and Javascript
(or even just jQuery) within a year. Give that I currently study full time in
a Business Degree, along with two part-time jobs (one static, one freelance
and malleable, but both related to web development) do you think you could
give me a few tips on what resources to read, and more importantly (given the
abundance of resources) what to avoid to keep it as simple as possible?

I am happy to pay money for good resources or subscriptions.

I do know basic PHP and MySQL, along with complete HTML and CSS (CSS being my
forte), however the next step is advancing that knowledge into the dynamic
sphere.

------
markessien
If you keep doing the same stuff, you'll keep getting the same results.

Every change you make should be a change that builds on top of what you
already have (restarting usually does not work).

Don't spend so much on donuts, it adds up.

No matter how tough anything is, the 3rd time you try it, it will be pretty
easy.

When you have an idea, execute it and finish it. Don't let people influence
you, just do it. History will show that your ideas usually worked.

Don't start what you can't finish. Have a clear finish line for everything you
start.

If you go out to a club 10 times, and you still are not enjoying it, it's time
to go somewhere else, no matter what everyone else is doing.

Make sure you're friends with your lover.

When there is an argument happening, stay out of it and get some work done.

------
WilliamLP
Given a choice between an engineering school with a great reputation or a
school with a female to male ratio close to 70%, choose the second.

------
nostrademons
Cheer up. The people who say that your teenage years are the best in your life
are the same folks that are beating you up, and life goes downhill fast for
them after graduation.

~~~
fallentimes
Hear, hear. Your arch nemesis will end up with a kid, no money and a job as a
male stripper before the ripe age of 22.

~~~
dotcoma
is a job as a male stripper bad?

~~~
fallentimes
It's more hilarious than anything.

------
webwright
Avoid debt (for me, it was the IRS when I started being self-employed). Travel
a LOT (it gets harder as you get older). Get jobs in interesting places (I
went to school too near home and really didn't get adventurous 'till later).
Being entrepreneurial is good, but don't get into services (I had a web dev
agency-- crappy way to build equity)... Build products instead. Get to a tech
hub sooner. Avoid the following 4 women (none of yer business). Set up an
automated recurring investment program. Buy a house before mortgages get more
expensive than rent.

~~~
timr
Fortunately, that last one is getting corrected right now...

------
nickfox
kiss her, you idiot... :o)

------
axod
Don't be so shy - you'll regret it later. Just do it.

------
quantumhobbit
Buy Google stock. Sell everything before Oct 2008. Profit.

In college I would tell myself not to worry as much about grades, but to focus
on a few projects of my own. Take more internships in different fields.

~~~
quantumhobbit
Actually stocks might not be the way to go. I'd hand myself a sports almanac
and start betting. As long as Biff doesn't get his hands on it.

~~~
laut
If you knew the price of a stock on a certain date, options would be good. And
you could leverage the investment with no risk. Better return than buying
stocks outright.

------
mattmaroon
I'd probably just give myself a sports betting almanac. Until you asked that
question I never fully appreciated Back to the Future 2.

~~~
Hexstream
Offtopic, but:

When Marty goes into the future they should arrive in a future where he went
missing (because he's traveling through time). Hence, the _whole_ movie makes
absolutely no sense at all.

~~~
swapspace
I don't remember the series clearly, but he comes back much before that future
event so he is not really missing at that time.

~~~
Hexstream
No, I'm talking about when he goes to the future at the very start of the
movie (or end of BTTF1).

~~~
adelle
At the beginning of BTTF2 Marty travels to a possible future. One that would
have become the actual future if he hadn't interacted with anybody and then
gone straight back to 1985. Doc Brown's plan would have worked too if it
weren't for those meddling kids.

------
drlaj
Learn more math.

------
antiform
It's not a race. Don't forget to slow down and enjoy life sometimes. Learn to
appreciate friends and family, because the times you spend with them will be
the ones that you cherish the most later.

------
cperciva
"Think things through carefully, but once you're finished thinking, don't
second-guess yourself. You're smart enough that once you've thought things
through, you're almost certain to have reached the right conclusions, so just
go ahead and act on your plans instead of wasting time worrying about them."

------
yan
Work a little bit harder. When you're already doing average school work, it
doesn't take much more effort to be excellent.

Experiment.

Don't be afraid to speak up; Don't be afraid to be wrong.

Regretting something you didn't do is _always_ far, far worse than regretting
something you did.

I'm still 23 though, so I still need this advice. Putting it to practice is
harder than it should be.

edit: Also, don't rush school. Keep track of idle time.

------
vaksel
don't waste your college years. That was 4 years of not needing to worry about
food or paying rent that could have been used to launch and grow a startup to
profitability.

~~~
dhouston
ugh. there's plenty of time to start companies, but those 4 years of "not
needing to worry about food or paying rent" are unique.

~~~
vaksel
the thing is that in those 4 years you can take it slow. You don't have the
added stress of running out of money to pay for rent etc.

1-2 hours per day on a startup in college is no big deal. You have so much
free time in college, that you can easily fit in doing a startup, going to
class and having a decent social life.

~~~
markessien
Then what's the point of being young?

~~~
vaksel
I'm not saying you need to be a monk and focus entirely on your startup. Think
of it an additional class you have to go to every day.

And I dunno if its being older talking, but at this point I look back at all
that time that I wasted, and feel like I've wasted an opportunity

------
comatose_kid
Don't work for a large company straight out of school. Move to Silicon Valley.
Don't buy a sports car - every penny you save is one step closer to not having
to work for someone else.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Not sure I'd agree. I would say that it's a huge benefit to have worked for a
large company, but don't stay more than a year, two at the most. You don't
really appreciate the hell of a corporate environment until you've worked in
one for a bit.

------
critke
take more risks. don't worry about failing.

------
DaniFong
You already know what you want.

------
mathogre
I'll simply use something paraphrased from Voltaire's story Zadig: "Be just
and worthy of having friends."

Do that and everything else will follow.

------
fallentimes
Ideas don't really matter, only execution does.

------
tdavis
I would probably say something along the lines of, "You've been lucky enough
to be born in a time and place where there is nothing you cannot do; the world
is there for the taking, so stop sitting around and go fucking take it
already!"

To this day, I still don't take as much as I should. But, baby steps.

------
partoa
Release Early, Release Often.

Had an epiphany about this last week, and it has nothing to do with the Bazaar
either, but rather everything to do with marketing. A client released a system
that I did not consider ready for use and somehow it works..., I had only
hacked the thing for a total of 3 days!

------
hwijaya
Appreciate and live the moment. Most people (incl. myself) were always looking
for big things in life. Not realizing, at the end of the day, it's all the
small little things that you take it for granted are all that makes the whole
differences.

------
woodsier
I'm 21 and plan on moving from Australia to the Valley next year to start on
my passionate life journey. So this advice is really interesting to me!

Especially specific advice regarding working in this general field in the
Valley or California would be fantastic.

Thanks!

~~~
nailer
What's your life journey that begins in .au?

------
timcederman
Speak up more, and stop being such a slacker.

------
blader
Don't do anything different, I like it here.

~~~
electromagnetic
I'd second that one.

My message to my younger self: don't screw it up moron, or you won't get
happily married!

------
Fuca
Think for yourself, be yourself. Find the people and activities that match who
you are. When the going gets tough, You will only have 2 friends your dad and
a dollar.Talk as little as you can.Choose a profession knowing that is what
you will do the rest of your life. Your wife will be 80% of your happiness /
sadness of your adult life. Do not think you are below or above anyone. Being
an employee sucks big time.Dont underestimate perseverance.

And pretty much reread everyday Soroyan short preface of "In the time of your
life"

------
bookbabe
I have thought about this question a lot. You see, I am a transgender woman
who was, as you can imagine, a very confused and scared young man. One thing I
would tell him is that I am here for him; I will never leave him. And I
understand why he is rejecting me, and I love him. <br> <br> When I started to
live as a woman, I was able, for the first time in my life, to say that I love
who I am, and ther person I was.

------
azharcs
Don't waste time.

Value your family and friends more, they are the only ones you know in this
world.

Don't listen to Naysayers.

------
davidw
Listen to this dude Rufus, he knows what he's talking about.

------
Eliezer
Everything on Overcoming Bias - that's what it's there for.

------
siong1987
Dude. You should start doing on your idea right now. Idea is nothing without
execution.

------
lifestudent
Drop out of school sooner...like after freshman year...make sure you live very
close to campus for the next few years after dropping out...spend the day
working on your own projects with friends around campus (make sure you do team
projects)...and the nights chilling at student clubs and meeting the motivated
folks around campus.

Learn through your own individual and group projects..and keep up with
industry trends...be sure to travel around (to other schools among other
places) and meet other folks that have a youthful spirit.

People around you will not like your unique lifestyle...but then again, they
also will not have enough money to pay off the debt for the lifestyle they say
you should have (go to school, invest in a home, etc.)

Any well-defined path...no matter how prestigious...will not lead to
entrepreneurial success; success comes from finding/developing a new path;
blaze your own trail

Be wary of things that you "Ought to do" or "Should do"...they usually cause
issues (credit: Carol Bartz for the last line)

------
pasbesoin
Actions speak louder than words. And not just your own, but others' as well.
Observe what people do, not just what they say (or write). Learn from it.

To do that, you have to participate.

Participating is challenging. Learn to stand up for yourself.

Take martial arts. Not to be a badass, but to maintain your integrity around
jerks who use physical intimidation.

Actions speak louder than words. If you feel bad about what you are doing,
likely it is impacting others negatively as well. (Even if it's just talking.)

We learn emotions, not just ideas. If you stay stuck in bad emotions, you will
reinforce their patterns.

Two things you have in finite quantity and which, once lost, may not be
recovered. Time, and your health. Guard both strenuously. I dont' mean that
one should live in isolation; quite the contrary. But don't let your time and
health be wasted or needlessly, stupdidly compromised.

------
ninjackn
I have actually thought very deeply about this question and would often ponder
about it in my spare time. Hypothetically speaking if I could go back in time
and tell my younger self one thing it would be:

DO NOT FORGET February 13, 2002: 1,4,19,28,46 M4

If I could say a little more on top of that it would be: invest in google
stock.

------
zasz
People are not as hard to hack as you might think.

What's the worst that could happen? Seriously?

It's better to be right than consistent.

------
jodrellblank
"Hi, I'm you from the future. It's critically important that you visit
$country ASAP. Heck, it's important enough that they sent me _back through
time_ to tell you! You! Here's some money, go to this place and speak to this
person. Go on your own".

Hopefully, convincing myself to go. The place isn't important, except that
it's more than a day's travel, and the person would be some generic
description who's likely to be there, and the cash wouldn't be enough to get
back.

Or maybe the place and person would be someone interesting who I'm yet to hear
of. Not sure.

The experience, maybe it would be enough of a kick to change my life for the
better. I needed it. (I still need it).

------
petercooper
It's a cute idea, but I'd sincerely hope my past-self would never listen to
anything I have to say now and instead figure it out for himself. I thought a
lot of crazy stuff then - probably still do - and I liked it that way.

------
thomasmallen
That Gibbs would come back, but to not get my hopes up too much for the
Redskins.

------
wingo
I would give myself a copy of "Disciplined Minds" by Jeff Schmidt. It explains
so many things I didn't understand then.

It is probably the most important book that I have read in the last five
years.

------
sherl0ck
It's OK to say no to someone

------
mightybyte
Learn Haskell well before you graduate from college. It will change your view
of programming.

If you ever at any point have an "obscenely high" return on one of your
investments (other than a startup you own), _always_ liquidate it if possible
to realize your returns.

In May of 2003, check out <http://crossfit.com>

------
donna
keep your day job while developing your innovations and funding

------
bootload
_"... what would you tell yourself? ..."_

Practicing things many times over, matters more than doing them a couple of
times; Be: aware of your surroundings and seize opportunity; irreverent to
authority and the pompous; generous with your time; miserly with criticism;
pain is temporary;

------
reidman
AAPL

------
kamme
I have a good, interesting job, started working on the age of 14, have saved
some money and have no debts. The only thing I would say to myself is:

Don't forget your friends. They are important as well.

Because sadly, I think most people do forget them, including me...

------
swapspace
Don't pretend to do, just do.

------
michaelneale
A list of shares to purchase, and who to borrow the money from to buy them.

------
jeffa107
Make more mistakes; don't be afraid to fail.

A college degree is overrated; the opposite is true of self-teaching.

Buy the Corvette. It's expensive and impractical but you'll never have more
fun with a car like that than you will at 24.

~~~
code_devil
I totally agree about buying your dream car :-) .. I bought a SC430 2 yrs ago
when I was 23.

------
sutro
I'm reminded of Red's (Morgan Freeman's) classic speech from "The Shawshank
Redemption" --

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtwXlIwozog>

------
firewallender
I'd tell myself to save more, compound interest is full of win.

------
pierrefar
If you've found a limitation in your world that makes you unable to do
something, don't whine, rant, or try to fix it. Work around it and keep moving
instead.

------
op12
1\. There is a big difference between understanding something and appreciating
something

2\. Remember that you can make the right decision and get the wrong outcome

------
whichdokta
I wouldn't tell myself anything right away.

I'd listen for a long time.

I don't know yet but after that maybe I'd say something or ask something if it
made sense to.

------
known

         Celebrate your failures.
    
         Insulate but donot isolate yourselves
    
          Ignorance is sin. Innocence is bliss.

~~~
nailer

        Monospace your writing.

~~~
known
I will. Thank you.

------
chris_l
Surrender. Don't fight reality, go with it.

------
mdolon
Buy all the two-letter, three-letter and dictionary word domain names possible
and retire before going to college.

------
simplegeek
Use your _own_ mind and _explore_. And above all, just don't settle and always
raise the bar.

------
msg
You wanted to figure out what it all meant, and you were right. Don't give up.

PS You love computer science.

------
cpr
Don't do anything you wouldn't be proud to show your (theoretical, future)
children.

------
pavelludiq
<http://abstrusegoose.com/80>

------
robg
Start hacking. It's all the fun of science but with the rigor you like in
math.

------
batmanbury
Smoke weed, you pansy!

~~~
thomasmallen
Smoking weed has nothing to do with courage...maybe you mean to say "resist
silly laws"?

~~~
batmanbury
You sound as if you think you know me.

------
awt
You're not as good a programmer as you think you are.

------
Prrometheus
Bored in class? Learn about those computer thingies.

------
jaytee_clone
-Video game is a waste of your time.

-Practice something everyday.

------
0_o
start coding now!

------
g1rlb0t
Never settle. You're worth more than that.

------
corentin
Ignore what people say; live for yourself.

------
pmjordan
"Don't listen to your parents so much."

------
paraschopra
Life Couldn't Have Been Any Better!!

------
lmao
Work hard, play hard.

------
fallentimes
Start a startup asap.

------
pclark
go to the doctor and ask for a full blood test.

------
terpua
travel and hang around more cafes

------
saroj
have more freedom in every way!!

------
Allocator2008
Paraphrasing Rand, I think I would tell my younger self: Do not recognize
anyone's right to one minute of your life, nor to any part of your energy, nor
to any creation of yours, no matter how large their number nor how great their
need.

Personally, I think I spent too much time in a futile effort to please parents
and relatives and so forth. Later in life, I find that is not only a futile
effort, it can also make one completely miserable, since one is not being
one's truest self, but is acting as one perceives others want them to act or
be. Reading Rand, I find that mistake is a common but grave mistake,
underlying societal decay in much of history, namely, the mistake of living
for others instead of oneself. So yeah, that would basically be it. If I could
reach back a decade, and tell a copy of myself in a Everett-Wheeler parallel
universe one thing, that would be it, the above paraphrase from 'The
Fountainhead'. :-)

------
gaius
Take Maths or Egyptology, no-one actually uses anything they learn in their
degree in the real world, so just enjoy the undergrad opportunities to learn
cool stuff.

