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 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’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 are. So before you save the rainforest 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.
Actually, there is no evidence that the '11 Rules of Life' really came from Bill Gates. Personally, I think that the '11 Rules of Life' is a horrible piece of advice. A well known person like Bill Gates most probably wouldn't have given such advice, but if he did, then he just lost all my respect towards him.
Basically, the '11 Rules of Life' says that success is all about holding the highest position and earning the most money, and that we have to kowtow to others and go against our own principles and interests to achieve success. This is definitely not right! If we were to go with its definition of success, then majority of the people in this world, who isn't a CEO and a billionaire, have failed their lives. It is impossible for everybody to be CEO's and billionaires.
In reality, there is much more to life than just work and money. To live a happy life, we shouldn't stress ourselves too much and we need to have some time to do what we enjoy. It is meaningless to achieve the so-called 'success' if we aren't happy. If we really follow the '11 Rules of Life', we are just going to end up becoming a workaholic, stressful, selfish and boring person. Therefore, the '11 Rules of Life' is something that everybody should stay away from.
In my opinion, the correct '11 Rules of Life' should be like this:
RULE 1
A lot of things in life isn't fair. If you think of changing them, that’s good, but remember that even if you spend your whole life trying, you won't be able to change everything, because there is simply too many.
RULE 2
Before you can expect the world to care about your self-esteem, you have to value your own self-esteem first.
RULE 3
You won't make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school, neither you will become a vice president. But that shouldn’t matter at all, because success isn’t measured by the amount of money you earn or the position you hold.
RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, remember that it’s for your own good, so don’t complain about that. But if you think your boss is tough, don’t hesitate to change your job. Life is short, so don’t waste it on a boss like that.
RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Every job deserves respect.
RULE 6
If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault. You yourself are responsible for your own life.
RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren’t as busy as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talking about how cool you are. So, always treat your parents well and don’t ever neglect them.
RULE 8
Whether in school or in real life, don’t bother about winning or losing. As long as you always do your best and overcome your weaknesses, you are already the champion.
RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters, you don’t get summers off. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find free time to do what you enjoy.
RULE 10
Television is not real life. If you like to watch television, there is nothing wrong with that, but remember that in real life you don't have a lot of free time to watch television, so time management is very important.
RULE 11
Be nice to nerds, they are humans too just like us.
