Letter to my 19 year old self - life lessons I learnt over the last 10 years

I'm 29 years old now. If I could go back 10 years to give my 19 year old self some advice, I would go and give myself this blog post. Too bad I can't go back in time so the best I can do now is share this blog post with all the 19-year-olds out there.

This is the advice I would give myself:

On being a gentleman

1. Offer her your jacket when she's cold
2. Offer to seat to a lady or an older person
3. Always carry a spare handkerchief - you won't always be around a crying lady but when you do, you need to give her a clean handkerchief
4. Hold the door for everyone.
5. Wait until they finish speaking before you say what you want to say
6. Keep your phone away if someone is talking to you. Also make sure you're facing them and listening carefully.

On life

1. Your life is what you make it
2. Smile and laugh more. Until it becomes a habit.
3. Things don't happen by themselves. You have to ask the girl out; Or as they say it in lotto: "you have to be in it to win in".
4. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped
5. You're the rule not the exception. So you're never going to win the lotto. And you're only going to achieve success through hard work and careful planning rather than sheer luck.
6. Like Pether Marshall said: "If you don’t' stand for something, you will fall for anything". You should stand for something.
7. Don't suffer fools gladly
8. Only teenagers and posers know everything
9. Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
10. Be who you say you are
11. Be the change you want to see in the world
12. If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don’t' even start
13. If you're invited to a party or dinner, carry a bottle or a six pack of something. Whenevery you can, help to clean up afterwards.
14. Never go to a party you're not invited to
15. Rules are for the obedience of fools and for the guidance of wise man

On business

1. "Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Keep doing your thing, ignore those who don't get you. Don't try to justify yourself or explain yourself to them - they don't matter.
2. If one day you choose to start your own company and if you get to a point where you feel you need to write a business plan, write this business yourself. Being able to delegate is an important skill but don’t delegate our outsource the business plan.
3. Investors don't make or break your company. You do.
4. Fail fast, fail cheap and fail while leaning towareds success.

On religion

1. Always avoid discussing religion or politics
2. Resist the temptation to want to debate/reason with a religious person about their religion or try to educate them. You will never win that argument.

On Children

1. We didn't inherit the world from our parents. We borrowed it from our children.

On relationships

1. If in doubt, kiss the girl
2. No means no
3. If she asks if she looks fat, it's not enough to say "no." You must also act very surprised by the question. Jump backwards if necessary.
4. Whether it's a wife or a co-founder, choose your partner wisely. 90% of your happiness or sorry will be directly because of your partner.
5. You are better off with someone who loves you than with someone who you love tbut they don't love you back.
6. Beauty will eventually fade. Don't marry for just looks.
7. Don't marry before 30.
8. Birds of a feather flock together

On work

1. Don't run commands as root and avoid running commands with the '-f' option.
2. When you can, reply your emails as fast as you can. One day you will find yourself in a situation when you have no defence and you will be able to squeeze out of it by asking: "How long does it take me to respond to your emails?". Then, you will thank yourself for responding to emails very quickly
3. Always be on time. Meet deadlines no matter what. Always do what you said you do.
4. If you're working in a team and you know that your team is making a mistake but they don't realise it, find a way to get people to see things the way you do. It won't help any to say "I told you so" in the future.
5. Don't give anyone advice unless they ask for it
6. It's rude to ask people about how much money they make

If there is an important life lesson you think I should include in these lists, please mention it in the comments section below and if I think it's important, I'll be happy to add it to this list. If you have any questions about any of the pieces of advice here, lets discuss it in the comments section.