For my daughter

I turned thirty this year and have been thinking about having kids. Recently put together a list of.

  1. Anything worthwhile requires commitment.
  2. Authority figures - teachers, adults, - and the establishment aren’t always right. Think for yourself from first principles. If there’s something about how something works that doesn’t make sense to you, dig in and.
  3. Observe your own revealed preferences.
  4. Don’t pursue meta-happiness (things that you think will or should make you happy) as opposed to the things that actually make you happy.
  5. There will be things that you are naturally good at and things that you’re not so good at. With hard work and strategy, you can always get to a certain level of competence at the things that you’re not good at. But don’t neglect.
  6. There is no linear ranking of people. There are obviously rough hierarchies, but.
  7. Do the menial, thankless task. There’s no way to learn but by doing.
  8. Learn how to drive.
  9. The romantic partner you ultimately choose is the single most important decision you will make in your entire life. Don’t be ashamed of prioritizing that search over your career.
  10. Make your own money, and learn how to manage and invest it.
  11. Focus on earning more, not saving more.
  12. Become comfortable with risk. If someone mentions something at a dinner party that you think is absolutely ridiculous, you have an obligation to go look it up, dig into it, and maybe put some money in it.
  13. Embrace your femininity. You don’t have to think and act exactly like a man in order to succeed in the world.
  14. It’s ok to not be ambitious about the things that everyone else is ambitious about.
  15. Talk to your girlfriends about business. Guys have investing clubs
  16. Have guy friends, but don’t take advantage of them.
  17. The things (jobs, parties, people) that are highest status now won’t always be the highest status.
  18. Find arbitrages in
  19. You can have sex for any reason you want, as long as you actually want it. Don’t have sex with a guy you’re not that attracted to just because you already went home with him, or even a guy you’re attracted to but aren’t ready to sleep with, because you want to keep him.
  20. Corollary: don’t sleep with guys who don’t want to be serious with you.
  21. There will be a time in your life when not everyone will automatically care about your problems. Prepare for that time, and be kind.
  22. Your feelings are always true, but they are not always helpful or correct. Allow them to pass through you.
  23. Sometimes the anxiety and stress over something is more exhausting than doing the thing itself.
  24. Take care of your body. It’s the only one you’ve got.
  25. How you look matters, but it’s not the only thing that matters, and you have more control over it than you think.
  26. Having frameworks can be a helpful way of counterbalancing those emotions.