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Time & hindsight

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

78 answers answered between 1930 and 2026

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Read by field Everyone Science and medicine 14 Arts and letters 10 Politics and public life 19 Business and finance 10 Technology 16 Sport 9
Read by age Any age Before thirty 3 In their thirties 9 In their forties 13 In their fifties 12 In their sixties 13 Seventy and beyond 19
Carlos Slim Helú Businessman and investor; chairman of Grupo Carso and América Móvil
The first thing to recommend is that they don’t work in some place that they don’t like, that they don’t do things that they don’t like. That they look for what they really want to do and what kind of thing they want to be involved in, or if they want to go it alone by themselves, to find that.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2 December 2007 source ↗
Akio Toyoda President of Toyota Motor Corporation, 2009–2023; chairman from 2023
Don't screw it up. Don't take it for granted. Try new things, even if you're old. Do the right thing, because if you do the right thing, the money will follow. Decide what you stand for. Finally, don't worry about being cool—be warm.
Recorded Babson College Graduate Commencement, Babson College (Babson Thought & Action), 21 May 2019 source ↗

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