1. That your buddies will always be there in the clutch - many times they won't (a good test: whether they will value your friendship over, say, an opportunistic money grab - many people, in my experience, fail this test).

2. That you can succeed with corner-cutting (the easiest way by far to really learn something and to advance is normally the toughest way: to really dive in deeply and master the fundamentals, with hard work, and then to apply what you learned with diligence and hard work to achieve practical outcomes - the "quick" way is almost always inferior, though its lure is always there to entice you when you are young).

3. That ultimate satisfaction will come from the accumulation of money (nothing wrong with gaining financial success but money in itself can never satisfy the deeper needs of life).

4. That you can abuse your body with any form of excess without needing to care about longer-term consequences (big mistake).

5. That you can relate to others in a haughty way without consequence. Younger people are prone to have a sense of invincibility about what they can do. Don't presume. We are all frail and fallible. Treat others as you would have them treat you.

6. That you need not concern yourself with developing a core center for your character. You can lose everything and still keep your character. In the long run, this is what matters most because it ultimately defines you. Work at making it a good one.

I don't think I could disagree more. If I focused on my weaknesses, I'd still be working on my handwriting. I spent years in school trying to learn how to write legibly, and as soon as I got out I dropped that and used a computer for everything. I'm a published author now, and without a computer I still can't legibly compose a sentence. You know what? nobody cares that my cheques are hard to read.

Sure, you can focus on bringing up the things you are bad at to 'average' and be a mediocre person, or you can min/max it, and be /really good/ at some things, and really suck at others. Sure, we'd all like to be good at everything. But you know what? for most of us, it's not happening. you need to make choices.

As a child, your mom (or, at least my mom was) all about how important doing your laundry, cooking, doing the dishes, etc... is. In the real world? you can pay other people to do that. You don't even have to pay them very much. Your first programming job will pay enough to eat out every day and have someone come by and clean your house once or twice a week. (granted, knowing how to cook is a good skill; it's usually healthier. My point is just that no matter what you are bad at, there is almost always a way to solve any problem using one of your strengths.)

granted... your first programming job won't pay for that /and/ a spiffy new sportscar every five years, but for me, the free time to work on the things I care about is worth more than a sportscar.

Figure out what sorts of things you are good at learning. Become /really good/ at those things, and put yourself in situations where your strengths matter and your weaknesses don't slow you down too much. Cultivate friendships with people who have complementary skillsets.

That was a huge one for me too. For years I'd thought I needed at least $50k/yr, a nice car, fancy apartment, etc.

Then I spent a few years starting a business, and really learned what I do and don't need to spend money on. When food is an opportunity cost it changes your perspective. The first thing to go was trashbags - suddenly the idea of spending money on something going directly in the garbage seemed absurd.

So, I haven't had a car in 2 years, I love my apartment but its not huge, and I don't make a ton of money. But I'm happier than almost anyone I know, I can drop everything to go on an impromptu beach trip, and I wake up every day to a job that's exciting and fulfilling.

It sounds odd, but learning to live on almost no money made me calmer and happier.

As a guy in my early 20s from a small rural town that I lived in my whole life I can really relate to this. My best friends from home aren't planning on leaving and there just isn't really a place there for me. I think I sort of ruined college for myself because I didn't go far away despite going to a good school and I never really branched out because I could just go hang out with my "home" friends. It really crippled my four years. For this summer of my junior year I decided to move a few hours away to where it isn't convenient to drive home. The problem is I am trying to meet new people but that is definitely a problem in itself.

Concentrate on your weaknesses. Make them stronger. When you get to your 30s you can work from your strengths, but there has to be some time in your life to work on shit you suck at, and for me it was when I had the most motivation, my 20s.

Concentrate on your strengths, even at this age. Peter Drucker's argument sold me: If you work on your weaknesses, the best you can be is, if you're lucky, acceptable. If you on your strengths, however, you have your best shot at being outstanding. You'll also have more mental energy for the fight.

I wish that, in my twenties, (1) I knew this, and (2) I had the balls to be brutally honest with myself about what my strengths and weaknesses were.

Gonna heavily disagree with this one... This is an attitude that turns us into machines with expected outputs rather than people. We humans spend a lot of time limiting ourselves by placing labels on ourselves and limiting our perceptions by labeling others.

Discard the labels. Do not try to fit a role. You might program computers, but you are not a programmer. You fly planes, but you are not an aviator. You play a guitar, but you are not a musician. You teach, but you are not a teacher. All these terms have extra connotations we have all built up.

Your footprint on the world is a culmination of your actions, so in a sense, your actions mark you in the perceptions of others. However, as we humans are so adaptable, we can discard the notion of who we think we are and start afresh, always pick new directions. We do not have to be what we have been, and we do not have to cater to what other people expect of us.

Just because you get a college degree in X and work 30 years in X does not mean you cannot ever do Y; that is a self-imposed limitation reinforced by the X label.

Purpose of life? To live. Nice and fundamental. Meaningless enough to show you that you can do about whatever you want if you have the interest and make the effort. Limitless enough to give hope that if, in your 20s, you feel you are not doing what you want, you can try something else.

No, you are not what you do. You are you. What you do is what you have chosen to do at that time. It is okay to change, okay to do the unexpected, okay to break out of your comfort zone and whatever comfort zones and roles that TV and society have tried to impose upon you.

  - Stick to a daily exercise routine at all costs

You aren't too young. This is his philosophy which he's telling you to forget: forget every philosophy except his.

For me nothing can replace learning new interesting things and understanding new interesting concepts.