In his speech addressed to high school students, Bill Gates named the 10 life rules that teenagers, according to him, would never learn in school.

10 Sobering Life Lessons from Bill Gates

1. The world does not really care about your self-esteem and self-awareness. The world expects achievements from you without taking into account your self-esteem.

2. Frying burgers at McDonald’s is not a job below your dignity. Be sure that your great-grandparents would consider any work like this a “good opportunity”.

3. It is not very likely that you will be paid 50,000$ a year right after high school. Moreover, you are not going to become a vice president with your own limousine and personal driver, until you deserve it.

4. Your parents were not as uninteresting and boring people as they seem to you now before you were born. They had to become like this, earning money to provide you with a carefree childhood and taking care of you.

5. Do not rush to blame each of your failures on your parents. Instead of complaining about your failures, learn from them.

6. Maintain good relationships with nerds. One day, one of them may become your boss.

7. If your teacher seems strict and demanding to you, wait to see what your boss will be like. Unlike teachers, your boss’s career depends on how well you perform your tasks.

8. Unlike school, life is not divided into semesters, has no summer vacations, and most employers are not interested in helping you find your real self.

9. Your school has no division into winners and losers, but life does. In some schools, students are even allowed to take tests several times. This has nothing to do with what happens in real life.

10. Life is not fair, so get used to this fact.

Featured image: Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons


Copyright © 2012-2024 Learning Mind. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact us.

power of misfits book banner desktop

Like what you are reading? Subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss new thought-provoking articles!

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Angela

    Dont listen to anything Bill Gates has to say, he wants a generation of consumers not thinkers, corporations are ruining society and the planet, through their greed and dominance.

  2. Vakho

    What he says is hard to swallow, though not always, most of time he is right.

  3. without name

    I only agreed with the last one

  4. 2013ForLife

    #2021Sucks

Leave a Reply