WayneKirby.com

My twin boys graduated from high school this week.  Of course I have mixed emotions about the situation - I’m excited for them as they embark on a new phase in their life while being sad about them growing up so fast.

I’m also sad about my wallet - I’ll have three in college next year as they’ll join their sister in continuing their education.  One will attend Clemson, the other one Georgia Tech. My daughter is a senior at the University of Georgia.

All of this reminded me of an article I read several years of a speech that Bill Gates supposdedly gave at a high school in California.   I’m not sure if it was a commencement speech or not but I find the comments applicable to the situation

Here are Bill’s words of wisdom about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how politically correct teachings has created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this sets them up for failure as they go out in the real world.

• Rule 1: Life is not fair — get used to it!
• Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
• Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
• 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 — they called it 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, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
• Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
• Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
• Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
• Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Bill surely hit the nail on the head with this one.

To Your Success…

Wayne

Wayne Kirby is a veteran online entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in launching and growing businesses. Wayne is a multiple six-figure earner and has a MBA Degree - with an emphasis in Marketing and Finance. Get insights into his current mentoring program - The Prosperity Cast Network -and how he can help take your online business to the next level at www.waynekirby.com and by also visiting Wayne’s Blog.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.