Bill Gates' Advice to Teens

Some of you may have seen this before, I have too. This is Bill Gates' advice to kids in America. The wisdom is good. I have this list posted on our fridge. Rule 1 is often quoted by yours truly. I'm also a fan of Rule 7!

Rule 1: Life is not fair…get used to it.

Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $40,000/year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a cell-phone, until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He
doesn’t have tenure.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a word for flipping burgers-they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up it’s not your parents fault, so don’t whine about
your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are
now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and
listening to how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the
parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life
hasn’t. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give
you as many times as you want to get the answer right. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers and
Christmas break off, and very few employers are interested in helping you
find yourself. Do that on you own time.

Rule 10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to
leave the coffee shop and go to work.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.