18 Things Every 18 Year Old Should Know

When you turn 18 you are a free man. You can kick off the shackles and go about your life as you wish.

But the plan that is likely laid out for you is a plan destined to fail, so you've got to make the right choices to get a jumpstart on a life of health, wealth and happiness.

Regrets are pointless, but if for some reason I was put into a time machine and found myself 18 years old again this is what I'd be glad to know.

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Here are 18 things every 18 year old should know…

1) Don't get married

She isn't your soulmate, she isn't “the one”, it isn't true love. That's my 100%, money back guarantee to you. Assuming you are a westerner, especially an American, getting married young will be the biggest mistake of your life. Just say no. As a young man you can be free to date around and play the field. Tying yourself to one woman with a Government enforced noose will do two things: turn you into a shell of a man and significantly reduce your income after she gets bored, divorces you so she can find herself, and papa Government helps her finance it with your money. Wait until later in life and pick the right wife before you sign your life away.

2) Do not make women your priority

Priority numero uno should be making money and building a life for yourself. There are 3+ billion women in the world and they are all basically the same. Your soul-mate Kimberly isn't one in a million, at best she is about one in a hundred. She can be replaced and it's not true love that you feel for her it is infatuation. If she wanted you then you would not want her so much but because she does not want you you want her. Make sense? No? Doesn't matter. We want what we don't have or what we can't have, when we have it we don't want it. You don't need a psychology textbook to learn that, just a little Bold and Determined 101.

3) College doesn't guarantee money

It is time to get women out of the schooling of boys. It is way past time. Women in our feminized classrooms are consigning generations of our sons to years of misery and diminished futures. The evidence is everywhere. Few dare notice it. –Fred Reed

College is a big joke. I said it, you read it. My freshman year of college I had a female English teacher who had the build of a linebacker and, rather than teaching us English, taught us feminism. Every day she would talk about feminism ad nauseam. If you're thinking “wow, what a waste of time” you are right.

I wasted a great deal of time in college, aimlessly drifting through because that's what you're supposed to do. The cold, hard reality is that you aren't guaranteed a job or a career and your college degree is going to be the most expensive piece of paper you ever purchase. A college degree in this day and age usually guarantees one thing: debt.

Making money and living well is completely and 100% up to you, not your piece of paper. I never learned anything in college and with good reason: colleges are filled to the brim with stupid people (see exhibit A and exhibit B). It's not a coincidence that recent college grads look like glassy eyed morons as they serve your coffee.

Smart people simply don't belong in college and unless you are going to school to become a physician or to get a degree in a highly technical STEM field college is almost completely unnecessary. Every successful entrepreneur I know says the same thing: “I never use my college degree for anything“. If I found myself at 18 years old, knowing what I know now, I would absolutely 100% not go to college.

4) You can make money on the internet

Getting a degree in some phony baloney major like communications is great for wasting time pretending to be successful but there is an easier, better, freer and more profitable way to make money. Make money through the power of the internet. Look around you, what is one thing you see every person doing? They are all playing around on the internet on their laptops, smart phones and tablets. Everyone is online, you are online right now reading this, I am online writing this. The difference is that I am making money online and most of you are playing online. Kill two birds with one stone, play and make money.

If I were 18 years old right now this is exactly what I would do: I would skip college, I would read the Fastlane Forum voraciously, I would save up two thousand dollars and I would move to either Chiang Mai, Thailand or Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Those two places are filled to the brim with young, white foreign entrepreneurs who spend their time networking, building businesses and partying and they live on about $500 per month while doing it. I don't even personally like those cities but it's undeniable that they are the hub cities for young expat entrepreneurs. Go where the talent is.

5) World travel is not just a fantasy

13 years ago I watched a movie called The Beach. I was blown away. Not by the story, or the acting, but by the photography. The film takes place on an island in Thailand and when I saw the movie it looked to me like paradise. I never forgot that lagoon.

Too bad I could never visit a place like that, I thought.

You see, when I was a young man I was unaware of the possibilities. I thought it was college, job, two years into the job I could have a one or two week vacation, then I would retire. I never thought I could visit far away countries.

It was not until I read the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris that I even knew it was possible to not just visit other countries but you could actually live in other countries and it would be cheaper than living in America.

Right then and there I made my plans and I visited that island in Thailand that I saw in the movie. Nowadays I even live in Thailand and I save a ton of money doing so. It's not impossible, frankly it's quite easy.

6) Gym time is critical while you're young

You must build your body and your strength, a physically weak man is a failure and the body of the average man is disgraceful. As a young man you should have a few things going for you. Those things are high testosterone, high natural growth hormone and high IGF-1 levels. Take advantage of those now because when you're older those levels diminish. Now is the time to get in the gym and build your body naturally to it's peak. A body built when you are young will stay with you for a lifetime.

Do not take steroids as a young man, your HPTA levels are still developing. Using steroids while under 22 years of age can and will result in an underdeveloped HPTA which will result in permanent lack of HPTA maturity meaning you will have permanently low natural testosterone levels. Yikes!

7) Your family is full of BS

Unless your dad is a self-made millionaire your family doesn't know what they are talking about when it comes to planning your financial future. They'll tell you college degree, good job, marriage, retire rich. All they're missing is a little thing called evidence. That's a get-rich-slow scheme and it works as well as get-rich-quick schemes. That is to say, it doesn't work.

8) Work ethic is critical to develop early

The longer you wait the lazier you get. Now is the time to get to work building your future empire. Laziness is a learned trait and ass-kicking is also a learned trait. Get to ass-kicking instead of sittin' around on your ass. 30 Days of Discipline will give you a boot to the ass to fuel that fire.

See also Why Every Young Man Needs 30 Days of Discipline: 30 Days of Discipline Review

9) Everything is not just A or B, there is a C solution

The world is not just black and white, christian or atheist, republican or democrat, liberal or conservative. Stand on the outside and look in to make the best decisions. As soon as you say “I'm such and such” you stop thinking about things. If you say “I'm a liberal” you'll follow liberal dogma, if you say “I'm a republican” you'll follow republican dogma. There is a 3rd option, a 4th option, a 5th option etc. but it requires you to put on your thinking cap and not just accept your group's POV without thought. As an outsider you will be able to see things clearly in a way that group-followers never will.

10) You have a future

Never listen to people that say “This is the best time of your life. It's all downhill from here“. Your life is as good as you make it. Work to build yourself a future and you will have a nice one. I'll tell you my life is phenomenally better at 30+ than it was at 18 but I never sat around pining for the old days, I was always working to make something of myself. Forget about the retirement scam, work on your own future, build yourself. Your future is yours to make, but your future will come whether you build a good one or a poor one.

11) Pay attention to money

Never pay attention to the “money is the root of all evil” talk. The people who say this are morons. Money is the #1 necessity of life. Forget about greed, money is need. Make it so you can do as you wish and have the highest amount of freedom possible. Keep multiple bank accounts with balances in each and always keep some cash on hand. Never, ever keep all your financial eggs in one basket. I learned this lesson the hard way when my American bank closed my account for no reason (read about it here), leaving me low on funds. Now I keep 10+ bank accounts in several countries.

12) Find older, accomplished men and pick their brains

If you can find one, a mentor is a great asset. In the old days these were known as ‘fathers' but in the days of feminazism these guys aren't around so much. Thankfully we have the internet and can make contact with people from all over the world.

13) Feminism is a sick joke

Young man, you've been sold a bill of goods with the whole feminism thing. Let me explain in perfect English the reality: Western women were never discriminated against, there is no such thing as ‘rape culture', women aren't paid less for the same work, feminism is not about equality.

Feminism is about women trying to be men without any responsibility. Feminism has left you with a pool of women who are truly insane. Solution? Kick dirt in the face of feminism.

14) If you need a job get a sales job or a manual labor job

If you need a job, if your entrepreneurial gig isn't paying the bills, then sales or manual labor are great. Working in offices is for women and girly-men. A sales job will teach you how to make money and a manual labor job will build your body while you get paid. In fact, there are quite a few manual labor jobs that will pay you big, big bucks. You'll have to do some travel and work some long hours but you can make 100k+ per year working on offshore oil rigs. A young man with a strong back could work 6 months out of the year doing manual labor and spend 6 months free, traveling, working on an entrepreneurial gig, or doing whatever you want.

15) Don't buy anything on credit

Debt is slavery. Stay out of debt at all costs. If you don't have the cash don't buy the item. Pay everything upfront, no payment plan no credit. If you use credit cards to build up your credit always pay them off 100% at the end of the month. Think of credit cards as delayed payment debit cards.

16) Don't bother choosing a career

I'm not an artist, I'm a hustler. As a hustler I've done many things. You should really believe it when I tell you that, 'cause I'm not being sarcastic. I'm a total hustler. What that means is I've hustled to make a buck and I've hustled to change the world and I've hustled to take revenge – but it's always hustling. I've never had a career or a single goal. I've never been formally educated. To get things together, to make a living, I constantly have to hustle. – Vincent Gallo

Choosing a career is pointless and choosing your life path at 18 years old is just silly. You don't even need a career, you can do many, many, many things throughout your life.

17) Nobody believes in you

It's true, no one believes you can succeed outside of the college, job, marriage paradigm. Big deal. Frankly, they are right to not believe in you because until you have walked the walk you are just a daydreamer. Until you have accomplished what you have set out to accomplish there is absolutely no reason for anyone to believe in you. All you need to do is realize that no one believes in you and don't seek approval. Approval is for dogs, men take what they want and don't ask permission.

18) Be proud of who you are

If you're a young white man then you have just come from a schooling system where scumbags have tried to make you feel bad about being a white male. I remember vividly in my high school that all problems were the fault of white men. Young man, you can be happy to know that that is all baloney and you have zero reason to feel bad about being white. White people are the least racist, least sexist people on the face of the earth and I can assure you that is a fact. The nice guy always has to eat shit and when it comes to race, the white guy is the nice guy. Never apologize for who you are or for what color you are. You aren't a dog so don't tuck your tail between your legs.

BONUS: What to do if you're younger than 18

I get a lot of messages from young men under the age of 18 asking what they can do. My answer is this: Endure. When you're 18 you're free and you can do as you please. Until then you've got to do what mommy and daddy say. 18 will come before you know it, that's a guarantee. Until then just endure. Try and build yourself a business on the internet, try and build your body by going to the gym or exercising at home and count down the minutes to freedom. That's exactly what I did as a young man. Counted down the minutes, hours and days until I was free. It seemed like forever at the time, now it feels like it was the snap of a finger.

Good luck, and have a nice day.