Life Lessons from Bill Gates
Valuable Lessons in Life from the Head of Microsoft
Bill Gates of Microsoft Corporation recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things that they did not and will not learn in school. He talked about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids that have no concept of reality and how this concept has set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world doesn'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 $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: 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 you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. 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 off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life.. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs..
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
If you agree with these insights, please pass this on, and, if you can read this, thank a teacher!
Published by Tony Payne
Tony Payne is a freelance writer who lives on the South Coast of England with his wife Debbie. He has worked in the IT Industry all his life, and has been writing on various sites for the last 10 years. T... View profile
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37 Comments
Post a CommentI'm behind too,b ut sending PL your way:)
I've seen this before from Bill Gates and it's absolutely true on all points. Thanks for the reminder.
These are great, Tony! Glad this made Most Commented, it's priceless.
I'll have to show this one to my daughter. Great article.
Doesn't matter who did or didn't write this - it is still good advice about the real world.
I don't necessarily agree with everything here. I do think your parents can royally mess you up!~
Great article--so true.
Bill's the man.
This is an 'urban legend.' This is not Bill Gates (aka Dr. Microsoft). Snopes refutes it. Truth or Fiction pegs its author as Charles Sykes. Sykes is a 'journalist' and other traditional media figure. The '11 Rules" comes from his earlier 1995 work "Dumbing Down Our Kids" and has been reworked into the "50 Rules" for Amazon's amusement. The most effective way to communicate with and influence a child is NOT by parroting Internet tripe. Too, unless the child is a career 'burger flipper,' using argumentum ad populum and/or appeals to/from authority (figures) is not the way to 'flip' the child's mind. Truth or Consequences, Michael K. Miller
I had read these remarks before and I found them very impressive then. If only young people will read and learn.