“许多人都以为生活是由偶然和运气组成的，其实不然，它是由规律和法规组成的。”盖茨给青少年几条忠告就是盖茨先生从自己生活的方方面面，以及他从小到大的个人经历中总结出来的成功经验和人生智慧。 | 第一条准则：适应生活 |
生活是不公平的，要去适应它。
命运掌握在自己手中。
| 第二条准则：成功是你的人格资本 |
这世界并不会在意你的自尊。这世界指望你在自我感觉良好之前先要有所成就。
成功是人生的最高境界，成功可以改变你的人格和尊严，自负是愚蠢的。
| 第三条准则：别希望不劳而获 |
高中刚毕业的你不会一年挣4万美元。你不会成为一个公司的副总裁，并拥有一部装有电话的汽车，直到你将此职位和汽车电话都挣到手。
成功不会自动降临，成功来自积极的努力，要分解目标，循序渐进，坚持到底。
| 第四条准则：习惯律己 |
如果你认为你的老师严厉，等你有了老板再这样想。老板可是没有任期限制的。
好习惯源于自我培养。
| 第五条准则：不要忽视小事 |
烙牛肉饼并不有损你的尊严。
你的祖父母对烙牛肉饼可有不同的定义，他们称它为机遇。
平凡成就大事业。
| 第六条准则：从错误中吸取教训 |
如果你陷入困境，那不是你父母的过错，所以不要尖声抱怨，要从中吸取教训。
| 第七条准则：事事自己动手 |
在你出生之前，你的父母并非像他们现在这样乏味。他们变成今天这个样子是因为这些年来他们一直在为你付账单，给你洗衣服，听你大谈你是如何的酷。所以，如果你想消灭你父母那一辈中的“寄生虫”来拯救雨林的话，还是先去清除你房间衣柜里的虫子吧。
不要总靠别人活着，要凭借自己的力量前进。
| 第八条准则：你往往只有一次机会 |
你的学校也许已经不再分优等生和劣等生，但生活却仍在做出类似区分。在某些学校已经废除不及格分，只要你想找到正确答案，学校就会给你无数的机会。这和现实生活中的任何事情没有一点相似之处。
机遇是一种巨大的财富，机遇往往就那么一次，也许你“没有机会”，但可以创造。
| 第九条准则：时间，在你手中 |
生活不分学期，你并没有暑假可以休息，也没有几位雇主乐于帮你发现自我。自己找时间做吧，决不要把今天的事情拖到明天。
| 第十条准则：做该做的事 |
电视并不是真实的生活。在现实生活中，人们实际上得离开咖啡屋去干自己的工作。
| 第11条准则：善待身边的人 |
善待乏味的人。有可能到头来你会为一个乏味的人工作。
善待他人就是善待自己，要用赞扬代替批评并主动适应对方。
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For high school and college graduates, here is alist of 11 things they did NOT learn in school. In his latest book,Bill Gates talks about how feel-good, politically-correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. You may want toshare this list with some you know.
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 40 thousand dollars 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. He doesn't have tenure.
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'tas 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 are.So before you save the rainforest from the parasites of your parents'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; 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. And, once you get to the job, you will be expected to work in order to "earn" your paycheck.
RULE 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end upworking for one. The answer to the eternal question "Is it better to be a jock or a nerd?"
Consider the following:
Michael Jordan makes over $300,000 a game. That equals $10,000 a minute, at an average of 30 minutes per game. With $40 million in endorsements, he made $178,100 a day, working or not. If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugar plums dance in his head. If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him$7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there. If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it. He makes $7,415/hr more than minimum wage. He'll make $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends. If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000), it would take him a whole 12 hours. If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second. He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round. Assuming he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into a tax-deferred account(401k), he will hit the federal cap of $9500 at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st.If you were given a penny for every 10 dollars he made, you'd be living comfortably at $65,000 a year. He'll make about $19,60 while watchingthe100-meter dash in the Olympics. He'll make about $15,600 during theBoston Marathon. While the common person is spending about $20 for ameal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he'll pull in about $5600. In his last year, he made more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined. However, if Jordan saves100% of his income for the next 250 years, he'll still have less money than Bill Gates has today.
Game over. The moral of the story is: Nerd wins.
