July 18, 2011

Some Good Advice Part 1

I was recently on reddit and I saw a post (or whatever they call it on reddit) titled Advice for a 14 year old? It seemed a bit interesting to me and I thought I could contribute a bit. I went to it and found some very useful advice. It was directed at a 14-year-old but much of it is very useful for anyone of any age. In my next few posts, I will put the best pieces of advice that I read in peoples replies. I can't put them all in one post because there are simply too many. It would make you think, "Oh my gosh, this is very annoying reading all of this; I want to go do something else...but what if I miss something important? I better stay and read it all." Therefore, I made it easy for you; I will post them in separate posts for the next few days. All you need to do is just check back tomorrow.  I think I will post ten a day until my list is empty.  Well I guess I will start now.

Each numbered quote is from a reply I found on that topic. If you see an ellipsis (...) I may have added it to take out useless or unnecessary words. Other than that though, I did not edit them in any way.

Enjoy.


  1. "if you believe a cute girl is interested in you. ask her out. not much to lose. :-) don't be shy."
  2. "Fake confidence is the same as real confidence. Nobody will know the difference except yourself."

    • "Make decisions based on what YOU want to do, not on what other people want. Following the crowd is easier, no doubt, but you won't be happy.
    • Don't ever close any doors through laziness. Sure, school is a pain, but you don't want to limit your options by screwing around. Be excellent, try your best, and if you choose to go to college or not, know that it's YOUR choice, not one foisted on you by poor decisions.
    • Try everything. You're at a point in your life where the world is open to you. Just because you haven't done something doesn't mean you won't like it and it can't provide you with a lifetime of satisfaction.
    • Be kind to everyone. It's easy to get approval by picking on those weaker than you. Avoid that temptation. Everyone deserves your regard.
    • Forgive your friends when they wrong you. They will. It's part of life.
    • Don't do drugs until you're old enough to do it responsibly. The consequences of getting caught aren't worth the momentary pleasure.
    • ...
    • Be kind to your parents. Odds are they love you and want what's best for you. Alienating them will hurt them and those scars will last for decades (personal experience here).
    • If someone asks you out on a date, go. You never know.
    • Read. Everything. Get a list of the top 100 books and slog through it. Yeah, everything won't make sense but you'll understand the world so much better. Everywhere in our culture people allude to things that you just won't understand if you haven't forced yourself to become well-read.
    • Take every opportunity to travel. Seriously. The world is huge and you want to lose your provincial view as early as possible.
    • Get involved in politics. You may as well get disillusioned early.
    • ...
    • Stay in shape. It's so easy now and it will last your life.
    • Don't smoke.
    • Learn a foreign language.
    • Don't be contemptuous of those who know less than you.
    • Take every opportunity to tell your family you love them.
    • Learn to cook. ...
    • Save your money for things that are important, not things that give you momentary satisfaction."
  3. "Oh, and don't give away too much of your personal info on the internet. Never put your phone number or address on Facebook or Myspace or whatever it is you're using. Also try to stop as many incriminating pictures of yourself (drinking, doing drugs, in the nude, whatever) from going on the internet as possible."
  4. "Are you a smart person? Do you find schoolwork to be a breeze, no need to study? If you are i have some advice. Learn how to study, even if you don't need to study at this point in your life.
    I breezed through high school. Everything was so easy and intuitive the need to REALLY study was never there. For things i didn't know, i always used deductive reasoning to find the answer (on tests and the like). When i started working, same thing, i picked everything up real quick. If you are intelligent there are no real hurdles at this age. However, no matter how smart you are, this style of living will not get you through college. If you do not have good studying skills, you will not make it. Period. The amount of information covered is a lot, and you will need to know how to absorb that information, and the only way to do so is good study habits. Again, it doesn't matter how intelligent you are at this point, it's all about your ability to retain knowledge. The tests can not be gamed (i.e. i know a, c, and d aren't the answer, therefore its b.). When i got to college this was a huge problem for me. I didn't know how to study, really at all. I quit after two years before they kicked me out."
  5. "Don't let anything socially in HS get you too down. You'll find that things you may be beating yourself up over now don't matter later. "
  6. "Pay attention when you see someone doing something you'd like to learn. Ask if they'd mind teaching you, even. I learned to cook a few things just by watching other people."
  7. "Just RELAX. Seriously. That's what I would've told myself, anyway."
  8. "Be skeptical of things. Don't just take things as they are"
  9. "As I say in every thread like this, don't make the mistake that I have and get hung up on one person. Makes life miserable. Take it from me and move on."
There was part one.  I have a total of exactly 50 quotes; I just now counted, so there will be four more parts. If you want to view the thread you can find it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/isezb/advice_for_a_14_year_old/.

Please note: in this post I edited number 3 a total of three times.  You can see those edits where the ellipses (...) are on that number.

Have an excellent day because you are amazing!

No comments:

Post a Comment