The Series
A Letter to My Younger Self
Some advice I wish someone had written down and slipped under the door. A new piece of advice, every Sunday, until we reach one hundred.
No. 01 / 100
“in your life you will go through many trials and tribulations whether you want it or not. All of this will be useless if you don't learn from them.”
Every experience leaves a piece of advice behind. Learn the advice, write it down, reread it, memorize it. Let it be at hand when you need it.
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No. 02 / 100
“Nothing is certain.”
After certain experiences in life will lift you to the ninth heaven, others will bring you to the ground.
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No. 03 / 100
“At fourteen, you need to study hard: The Code of Good Manners, Shogun by James Clavell, and at least one serious book about nonverbal communication.”
In a world where children are encouraged to call their parents by their first names, this is essential. It matters both for the parents who started down this road (because maybe it is not too late for them to realize where they went wrong, when they went to the mall in flip-flops and talked loudly in the movie theater), and especially for the children who have never been clearly shown what is good and what is bad, what an educated person looks like versus an uneducated one, what etiquette is and what simple common sense means. They all need to read what I would call a cornerstone of human evolution. You will need it, because one day you will find yourself in places where these things are noticed, where they open doors—or close them. If your destiny was only to be left running cows on the hill, then yes, these books would be useless to you.
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No. 04 / 100
“If you know something that must never become public, then never tell anyone. Ever. It could not be simpler.”
Every person has a few skeletons in the closet, things they hide from others for different reasons. Sometimes these are matters of shame; other times they are simply matters that demand absolute discretion. If you truly want to be safe from the humiliation of seeing such things exposed, then there is only one reliable method: keep them to yourself.
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No. 05 / 100
“Be close to your parents”
As time passes, you begin to understand that life moves like sand through an hourglass: quietly, irreversibly, and often faster than we expect. Most of the time, we do not notice how little time remains until someone we love is suddenly no longer there. That is why your relationship with your parents should never be neglected. Be present for them, not only out of duty, but out of gratitude, because they were, in one way or another, the foundation on which you were built.
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The sixth piece of advice…
95 more to come, one each week.