The question

What counsel would you give your twenty-year-old self — and what should they ignore?

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Abby Wambach United States international footballer, 2001–2015
I stayed on the path out of fear, not of being eaten by a wolf, but of being cut, being benched, losing my paycheck. If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing it would be this: "Abby, you were never Little Red Riding Hood; you were always the wolf."
Recorded Barnard College commencement address, Radio City Music Hall, New York, Speakola, 16 May 2018 source ↗
Leymah Gbowee Peace activist; Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2011
My key message to her, as a nine-year-old, recently has been, “You don’t need to be friends with everyone, but you’re forced to respect everyone. And everyone doesn’t need to be friends with you, but everyone is forced to respect you.”
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 13 September 2018 source ↗
Marvin Minsky Cognitive scientist; co-founder of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
So any student who wants to get into psychology, right now the students are like lemmings. They say, “Well, it’s popular to study brain science, I’ll do that.” Or, “It’s popular to do neural networks; I see 30,000 people doing it, it must be good.” And my advice is if a lot of people are doing it, don’t waste your time.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 4 May 2001 source ↗
Megan Rapinoe United States international footballer, 2006–2023
Even more simply, you can ask yourself this question: "Do I truly care about equality for all people in this country?" If the answer is yes, then demand to be a better, more educated, more empathetic version of yourself. And demand the same of every single person you know.
Recorded First-person essay, The Players' Tribune, 6 October 2016 source ↗

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