First, some quick stories.
The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889. Back then, every major artist and writer in Paris signed a letter calling it an eyesore. It is now the most visited monument on earth.
Van Gogh sold one painting in his lifetime. One. His brother Theo sent him money every month just so he could eat. He painted over 900 canvases in ten years. He died broke, largely unknown, and buried in a field. His work now sells for over $100 million a piece.
You see, the well-designed things of any era mostly don't survive beyond a generation. The well-designed things solves a known problem in a known way and is made for the people who are already there with certain taste. On the other hand, the things that don't follow existing taste aren't made for the people who are there. The audience has to grow into them.
There was no category for what Van Gogh was doing. That's exactly why it lasted. The Eiffel Tower was built to show what structural iron could do and wasn't built to be compared with cathedrals and buildings. You can't imitate something that doesn't have a name yet. When the category you're in doesn't exist yet, you can't be compared to anything.
The above creations are two of thousands of examples where the intentions were honest and someone had to make them because no one else would. They just had to make them regardless of their audience's existence.
These stuck. We don't pay a shit ton of money to travel to see an UI design from 10 years ago. We do for these. Art lasts. Create art in every piece of work you do.
This, along with some more that follow, would be a set of unsolicited advice I'd like to give to young people:
If you can't sleep, get out of bed. Bed's for sleeping. Read a book, use the phone, work on the laptop, watch the TV in their respective spaces.
Always carry a pen. Your phone will die or go slow exactly when you need it most.
Book the window seat. You can always close the blind.
Don't argue with someone who has nothing to lose.
Pack one less shirt than you think you need. You will not miss it.
Never carry your passport and your wallet in the same place.
The second day in any new city is better than the first. You've slept there and you know where the coffee is.
If someone says "this won't take long," double whatever time they give you and add ten minutes.
Sleep on any decision that costs more than a week's salary.
Read the one-star reviews first. Then the three-star reviews. They are more honest than the five-star ones.
The most useful question in any project is: what is the thing that cannot be fixed later?
Still learning… but, never buy a tool until you have needed it at least twice.
If a decision is reversible, make it fast. If it isn't reversible, take your time.
Learn the local greeting wherever you go. Even badly spoken, it makes people more welcoming.
If you feel defensive when someone gives you feedback, that is usually a sign they are right.
The person asking the most questions in a room is usually the one learning the most in that room.
Never book the cheapest hotel in an unfamiliar city. You're paying for location, not a bed.
When someone is talking, stop preparing your reply and just listen. You'll give a better reply anyway.
Tell people when they've done something well. Most people only ever hear about the things they got wrong.
Always be kind to a waiter.
Don't buy the extended warranty. The mathematics almost never work in your favour.
Clean the toilet first when a guest is coming. The rest can follow.
When you borrow something, return it in better condition than you received it.
Don't buy things on sale that you would not have bought at full price. The sale is irrelevant to the question.
If someone sends you a long message that needs a long reply, don't reply immediately. The quality of your reply is worth more than the speed of it.
Complain directly to the person who can fix it, not to everyone who can't.
If you're going to spend money on anything, spend it on your mattress and your shoes. You are in one or the other for almost your entire life.
Never buy the first version of any new technology. Let other people find the problems.
Learn to apologise without an explanation attached. "I'm sorry" is complete. "I'm sorry, but..." is not an apology.
If you buy something fragile, keep the box for a year.
A ten-minute walk in the middle of a long work day does more for your thinking than an afternoon coffee.
The best way to learn a new city is to get lost in it on foot for half a day without a destination.
Always keep a bottle of water on your bedside table. You will drink it almost every night.
Never ask someone how their weight loss is going. They will tell you when they want you to know.
Know at least one good doctor (ideally, near you) before you need one urgently. Finding a doctor while you are sick is harder than it should be.
Keep a notebook in your bag. The thought you are completely sure you will remember is the one you never do.
Do one thing every year that will make a good story even if it goes badly.
If you are about to say something that begins with "no offence, but," don't say the thing after it.
The people who say they work best under pressure are usually the people who leave everything until the last minute and then call the chaos a style.
When you travel somewhere new, spend the first morning doing nothing planned. Walk around. Eat somewhere random.
Keep an emergency contact number written on paper somewhere in your bag. Not just in your phone.
When someone gives you their card, look at it before you put it away.
Always ask for a receipt, even for small things. The habit protects you on the day something goes wrong.
The best feedback you will ever receive comes from the person who has no reason to be kind to you. Listen to them more than to people who care about your feelings.
Buy the local newspaper when you travel somewhere, even if you can't read the language. The photographs tell you what the place thinks is important.
The best time to make a decision is when you have the most information, which is almost always later than you feel comfortable waiting.
You will remember the people you worked with, not the work. Be good to people.
Study your successes harder than your failures. Failure teaches you what to avoid; success teaches you what actually works, then repeat those.
When you delegate, hand off the thing you know best, not the thing you understand least. You can only guide what you have expertise on.
Don't aim to be the best at a crowded thing; aim to be the only one doing your particular combination. Competition is for people who lack imagination.
When you want to change someone's mind, first say their own argument back to them better than they did.
Showing up on time is a way of saying the other person's time matters.
Get a deadline even for things nobody is waiting on. Without a deadline, the work is optional.
Give time to things that take time. Impatience assumes the slow middle journey will lead to failure.