Post: #1

I've been getting more PM's lately from high-school age guys who want some advice and don't know where to even start. I thought I'd address this issue and see if I can help some members out (or lurkers).

I came out of high school as a conceited, immature, hyper-competitive asshole with a chip on my shoulder. I stayed this way for two years until I broadened my horizons by traveling, studying, and working abroad.

Reflecting on 5 years of intermittent travel between undergrad studies, post-grad studies, internships, and contract jobs, I would suggest that guys who are in their summer between high school and college go travel. If possible, take a gap year that combines travel with targeted learning - preferably language acquisition and perhaps some professional experience.

I knew several students who went to my undergrad who took the summer before university to go travel or took entire year off. One girl also took a semester off during sophomore year to do a 6 month apprenticeship in Berlin in the area of industrial design.

These people have overwhelmingly grown immensely as individuals and as professionals and end up having a stronger and more secure profile as they leave universities - they gain the practical skills and perspective that they'll need or use later, whether in the context of casual conversation, future travels, job interviews, or entrepreneurship.

I can not think of a single person to date in my own network who has not benefited from travel.

If you are short on funds, there are a range of ways to travel for free, or really cheap, although that is a topic for an entirely new thread.

Everyone is differnt - maybe you want your gap year or summer to just be white water rafting, doing shrooms in Thailand, and trekking in Indonesia. That's great and if you are so inclined, I suggest you do that.

If you are a bit more proactive as far as careers/business go, I would suggest that you take at least 6 months of your gap year period to aggressively acquire a new language and do an internship or apprenticeship either domestically or abroad. Having these experiences entering university will benefit you in a variety of ways:

-When you meet all the other incoming freshmen, you will have much better stories to tell them and chicks will dig you

-You will have gained perspective on what is important to you and have an easier time transitioning into a major/field - or you will at least know what you DON'T want to do, as I learned with commercial real estate in Shanghai

-Acquiring the language at a younger age will be a great platform upon which you can later build. You can use this to double major in a subject like business or engineering while continuing your language. You have a couple options here - you can start with the elementary course and, with your level of acquired skills, breeze through the class and get guaranteed A's for language courses. Alternatively, you can use your acquired skills to enter more advanced classes.

-I've realized that the post-grad job offer is basically you being sized up against your classmates in terms of GPA and previous internships. If you've been doing internships since you were a freshman and your GPA is solid, you will have a much stronger chance in the running for a great post-grad job. If you're been interning before you even entered college, you'll have an even stronger profile.


Just some food for thought. Hope this helped out some of the young guns.

Post: #2

Great advice for anyone on the college path.

Only thing I want to throw in, is the idea that perhaps college is not a necessary route for these individuals lives. I'm a dropout and that was one of the top 3 decisions of my life, allowing me to pursue the endeavors I wanted to as opposed to getting a bullshit degree in english or w/e the hell I was taking.

IMO college is great for highly specialized careers where technical knowledge is important like doctors or engineers.

Here's my analogy: An amateur musician can get 'noticed' or put effort into marketing himself, and perhaps gain a following, while an amateur 'surgeon' can't really go running around operating on people hoping he gets noticed or pushing his skills.

Terrible analogies decide, I think the first step for anyone is to decide if college is truly a necessary step for you.

College does not automatically lead to wealth and success. I hate to see people go to college because they think 'they are supposed to."

Post: #3

I disagree with you doctor, i think everybody should go to college. I remember when i was doing my second year of university, i really really felt like giving up university, spoke to few people, some of them were like my mentors and they told me not to give up, i was so fed up of university and i was going through a stage where i believed that i would never use my degree because my business was blowing. 2 years down the line, my business busted, not because i messed up, but because of the government laws of the country that i was running my business, i had to change strategies and market. It would also have been a bad move to give up university when i didnt have enough money to ''retire'', i had money to live a quiet good lifestyle, but not enough to ''retire'', so if you have not saved enough money that could make you live the next 30 years without working, do finish university so you have a degree for you to fall back on.

One thing i was also thinking last night is that you youngsters should travel and travel a lot while you are going to college or university. I have been travelling non stop since i was 16 (im 25 now) and although i always knew i was happy when i was doing it, i am only seeing now how much happy i really really was. This corporate life is like a prison and now i understand why i never worked. Dont get me wrong, i see a job as a source to give you some amount of money and then you go run your business, dont be like other people that spend more than 10 years with this corporate life, i believe human beings should be free and they are free when they rely on themselves in every way and that of course includes in a financial way.

YMG in one year or in two years i am looking to go travel for adventures around the world and by this i mean water rafting, trekking and all of these stuff. Do you know about great places to go to? And how we can book with an agency to be part of these adventures? I would appreciate if you could create a thread about this and then other users will also contribute and we probably going to know about wonderful places for adventures that we never thought about before.

Post: #4

Pitt, I'm not exactly some kind of adventure sports guy, but I'll tell you some of the cool adventure-type stuff I've done:

-Muay Thai training in Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai

-Hiking in S. Korea

-Hiking in Yunnan, south China

As you've probably ascertained, when I go abroad I spend the majority of my time in large cities, studying/working while partying. I'm not really a beaches and nature type guy; given a choice, I tend to stray towards large metropolitan areas.

Post: #5

My advice to high school guys:

Dont get married. Dont get a girl pregnant. Stay out of debt. Lift weights/stay in shape. Be humble and work your ass off. Find role models. Visualize the lifestyle you want to live. Invest in yourself. Read lots of books. Stay informed. Make yourself a valuable person.

Post: #6

Oh, young aspiring entrepreneurs - I've found that I've learned far more from other people's failures than from their successes. I think most entrepreneurs have faced a bunch of failures and setbacks before hitting their home runs.

I think these kinds of people make the best role models. They are able to dust themselves off after being beaten up from a failure, learning from their mistakes, and coming back stronger and smarter.

The Steve Jobs story is incredible. Mark Cuban, MJ Demarco....all people I emulate.

Post: #7

Actualy according to "Rework" the people that fail business once are more likely to fail again. Learn from peoples mistakes but emulate successful people. My 2 cents to this is have older friends. On average my friends have always been 3 years older than me and older.

I have had older friends my whole life and it really changed my perspective every year, even now. Also never ever ever tie yourself down to 1 clique or group of friends. Keep yourself well rounded by

training with athletes
conversing with scholars
talking work and business with entrepreneurs and bankers
talk travel with people that travel a lot: vagabonders, rich kids, people on this forum
Talk women with ladies men (someone whos laid 70+ women in 1 year and youve seen him do it)

You know your onto a unique individual when things overlap, like a banker whos training for the Ironman. Or an engineer whose traveled the world. The more well rounded and diverse your friends are the more versatile you will be. Become a chameleon. Think James Bond or the Dos XX guy, theyve been every where and done everything because they know experts in each and every field.

I see a lot of people say they want to be everything, but i wonder how many of them are truly as versatile as they want to be. You cant be everything at once, but you can compete in dance competitions after dancing several hours every monday night religiously, be an awesome cook by cooking something new every friday, learn german language by going to german socials once or twice a month religiously. It goes on and on. Your not an expert at any one thing, but your well rounded enough to experience everything the world has to offer.

Post: #8

If you're thinking of joining the military, sign a short contract. I know in the Army you can do two or three years depending on MOS. Don't be swayed by signing bonuses or recruiter talk. You won't know whether you like the lifestyle until you're in it.

Time is precious. Always be selfish with your time.

Post: #9

Taking a year off is a great idea. It allows you to focus on thing like travel, building your own business and game.

That way when you go into University you'll be a year more mature, smarter, and have better game.

After working on your own business schoolwork will seem easier since your ability to work improves. Build up a passive income up with it and you'll have a nice little side stream of money financing all the crazy parties and booze. Networking will be a breeze if you work on your game and improve your social skills. Level up your game skills and you'll have a far easier time building business contacts.

Post: #10

I definitely agree with taking time off. I got stuck with a ton of loans studying shit I had no interest in.

If you don't know exactly what you want to study and go into, college is a huge waste of time and money. That money would be better spent traveling and getting life experience, or even starting a business or two.

Just going into the college track because you're "supposed to" is dumb - wish someone told me this. Just make sure that you spend your time on something productive.

Looking back, i should have taken time to travel, chill, and find something I was passionate about and then try to turn it into a business. That's what I ultimately did, but only after I graduated and accumulated loan debt.

Post: #11

(11-19-2011 11:38 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  Oh, young aspiring entrepreneurs - I've found that I've learned far more from other people's failures than from their successes. I think most entrepreneurs have faced a bunch of failures and setbacks before hitting their home runs.

I think these kinds of people make the best role models. They are able to dust themselves off after being beaten up from a failure, learning from their mistakes, and coming back stronger and smarter.

The Steve Jobs story is incredible. Mark Cuban, MJ Demarco....all people I emulate.

MjDemarco said he read a lot of autobiographies of successful people. How did he found those autobiographies and who did he try to study?

Post: #12

No idea, but he occasionally answers email if you directly email him.

http://www.thefastlaneforum.com

Post: #13

My advice for the high school guys are to wake up early in the morning and get ready ,also take break fast . then go for the school and in the school concentrate on your study and make a good relation with you teacher and your friend . you must respect the teacher.do your home work and class work carefully and regularly.

Post: #14

(11-22-2011 08:36 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  No idea, but he occasionally answers email if you directly email him.

http://www.thefastlaneforum.com

I found his reccomended bookshelf.
By the way, how do you overcome unrealistic fears when you are very young. My uncle used to say to me "when i was a kid, older people told me not to be afraid of girls or talking to people but i was too wrapped up in my own world and now i kind of regret for not acting"
I always have this fear of being lost because my sense of direction just sucks.

Post: #15

MikeYarde - at two posts and hilarious grammar, it would be hard to take you seriously - yet I agree that young guys should be awake and hustling before the other guys. Use this time to work out or read books, get your day set and planned.

Andreas - how young is very young? I'm 25 and I still have fears that I haven't overcome. I understand what you mean about being too wrapped up in your own world. I have fears that neither of my two current ventures will take off. The first one, the careers one, I'm doing because it's my passion and I would do it for free regardless. The second, I'm doing because of a stronger mission in life to have a meaningful widescale impact on the environment. Even if the venture fails, I know that I've done what I can to make a positive impact on the world.

I suggest you watch Steve Jobs' commencement speech - this really hit home for me, especially the part about connecting the dots.

Post: #16

(11-22-2011 11:45 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  Andreas - how young is very young? I'm 25 and I still have fears that I haven't overcome. I understand what you mean about being too wrapped up in your own world. I have fears that neither of my two current ventures will take off. The first one, the careers one, I'm doing because it's my passion and I would do it for free regardless. The second, I'm doing because of a stronger mission in life to have a meaningful widescale impact on the environment. Even if the venture fails, I know that I've done what I can to make a positive impact on the world.

I suggest you watch Steve Jobs' commencement speech - this really hit home for me, especially the part about connecting the dots.

I'm talking about below 20 where you don't know shit in life (25 is still young but more down to earth). I feel like i'm lying to myself and have fears when i think of different social scenarios that will probably make me cringe when i become 25 and think of my past. I don't want to grow untill 25-30 and say "why did i feared this shit". Haven't you ever said to yourself " i could have easilly accomplished that thing years ago but i didn't because of a lame excuse" ?

Post: #17

god i wish forums like this and the internet were around when i was in high school. the internet has certainly made the world more of a global community making individuals more informed and knowlegable.

some great advice above. read it and take it in young bucks and remeber waht u do today will affect tomorrow.