WHILST ON HOLIDAY I PICKED UP A NEWS ITEM about Bill Gates, the man behind Microsoftt and one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs. He is just stepping down from running Microsoft to concentrate on his philanthropist interests and he recently gave a speech to an American High School where he complained that feelgood politically correct  teaching has created  a generation of young people with no concept of reality in today’s world. Where employers complain about young people  entering the business world with a ludicrously inflated sense of their own abilities. And he gave his young audience a number of tips for success which they would never, ever learn at school.

I read these with interest and realised that these warnings are just as appropriate to many young people entering the world of magic today albeit as a hobby or as a professional.

They’re worth quoting.

Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!

Rule2: The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will not make £30,000 a year straight out of high school.

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 flipping hamburgers – 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 and listening to you talk about how cool you are.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into terms. You don’t get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you “find yourself”. Do that in your own time.

Rule 10: TV is not real life. In real life people have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds.Chances are you’ll wind up working for one!.

Filed under: Magic Thoughts