Heh, if I was 12-14 these days, the main message I would send to me would be: Start making and publishing mobile games while you have a lot of free time, so when you finish university, you have enough passive income that you don’t have to take a job, because having a job destroys your most precious resources: time and energy.
(And a hyperlink or two to some PUA blogs. Yeah, I know some people object against this, but this is what I would definitely send to myself. Sending it to other kids would be more problematic.)
I would recommend Anki only for learning languages. For other things I would recommend writing notes (text documents); although this advice may be too me-optimized. One computer directory called “knowledge”, subdirectories per subject, files per topic—that’s a good starting structure; you can change it later, if you need. But making notes becomes really important at the university level.
I would stress the importance of other things than math. Gifted kids sometimes focus on their strong skills, and ignore their weak skills—they put all their attention to where they receive praise. This is a big mistake. However, saying this without providing actionable advice does not help. For example, my weak spots were exercise and social skills. For social skills a list of recommended books could help; with emphasis that I should not only read the books, but also practice what I learned. For exercise, a simple routine plus HabitRPG could do the job. Maybe to emphasise that I should not focus on how I compare with others, but how I compare with yesterday’s me.
Something about an importance of keeping contact with smart people, and insanity of the world in general. As a smart person, talking with other smart people increases your powers: both because you develop with them the ideas you understand, and because you can ask them about things you don’t understand. (A stupid person will not understand what you are saying, and will give you harmful advice about things you asked.) In school you are supposed to work alone, but in real life a lot of success is achieved by teams; but the best teams are composed of good people, not of random people.
Another advice that is risky to give to other kids: Religion is bullshit and a waste of time. People will try to manipulate you, using lies and emotional pressure. Whatever other positive traits they have, try to find other people that have the same positive traits, but without the mental poison; even if it takes more time, it’s worth it.
Heh, if I was 12-14 these days, the main message I would send to me would be: Start making and publishing mobile games while you have a lot of free time, so when you finish university, you have enough passive income that you don’t have to take a job, because having a job destroys your most precious resources: time and energy.
(And a hyperlink or two to some PUA blogs. Yeah, I know some people object against this, but this is what I would definitely send to myself. Sending it to other kids would be more problematic.)
I would recommend Anki only for learning languages. For other things I would recommend writing notes (text documents); although this advice may be too me-optimized. One computer directory called “knowledge”, subdirectories per subject, files per topic—that’s a good starting structure; you can change it later, if you need. But making notes becomes really important at the university level.
I would stress the importance of other things than math. Gifted kids sometimes focus on their strong skills, and ignore their weak skills—they put all their attention to where they receive praise. This is a big mistake. However, saying this without providing actionable advice does not help. For example, my weak spots were exercise and social skills. For social skills a list of recommended books could help; with emphasis that I should not only read the books, but also practice what I learned. For exercise, a simple routine plus HabitRPG could do the job. Maybe to emphasise that I should not focus on how I compare with others, but how I compare with yesterday’s me.
Something about an importance of keeping contact with smart people, and insanity of the world in general. As a smart person, talking with other smart people increases your powers: both because you develop with them the ideas you understand, and because you can ask them about things you don’t understand. (A stupid person will not understand what you are saying, and will give you harmful advice about things you asked.) In school you are supposed to work alone, but in real life a lot of success is achieved by teams; but the best teams are composed of good people, not of random people.
Another advice that is risky to give to other kids: Religion is bullshit and a waste of time. People will try to manipulate you, using lies and emotional pressure. Whatever other positive traits they have, try to find other people that have the same positive traits, but without the mental poison; even if it takes more time, it’s worth it.