According to Allison Pearson, Bill Gates has 11 'tips for success' which he recently gave to some high school pupils - tips which they would never learn in school. They look bang on to me:
RULE 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
RULE 2: The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
RULE 3: You will NOT make £30,000 a year right out of high school.
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: 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 and listening to you talk about how cool you are.
RULE 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT.
RULE 9: Life is not divided into terms. You don't get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you "find yourself". Do that in your own time.
RULE 10: TV is not real life. In real life, people have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
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