Most people wish that they could go back in time to share some much-needed advice with their younger selves just to make things a bit better. Even Bill Gates, who is one of the most successful industry leaders in the whole world, has a thing or two to say to his 19-year-old self.
On his fifth Reddit Ask Me Anything session earlier this week, the 61-year-old was asked this question.
“If you could give 19-year-old Bill Gates some advice, what would it be?”
The Microsoft co-founder said that he wishes he could tell his younger self that there are various ways that a person can be smart and that IQ isn’t as important as he thought it was.
“I would explain that smartness is not single dimensional and not quite as important as I thought it was back then,” he said.
Gates also wishes that he could encourage teenage Bill to get out and travel more.
“I would say you might explore the developing world before you get into your forties,” he continued. Nowadays, Gates and his wife, Melinda, often travel the world to give foreign aid to poor countries through their foundation.
Lastly, the father-of-three said that he wishes he was less awkward back then.
“I wasn’t very good socially back then but I am not sure there is advice that would fix that,” said Gates. “Maybe I had to be awkward and just grow up…”
Apart from being awkward, it appears that the philanthropist was also quite troublesome in his youth. Last year, Herald Scotland reported that Gates revealed how he was “disruptive” as a teenager, forcing his parents to send him to a psychologist.
But mostly, Gates has been passionate about computers since he was a young boy. He discovered his love of computers by writing a computer code for a version of tic-tac-toe when he attended the prestigious Lakeside prep school in Seattle, according to Business Insider.
By high school, Gates and fellow student, Paul Allen, who also happens to be his Microsoft co-founder, went into business for the first time. When Gates was 15, the two created Traf-O-Data, a tool for tracking traffic flow in the area.
Gates attended Harvard University but dropped out in 1975 to devote his time to Microsoft. Now, Gates is one of the wealthiest men in the world, and according to reports, is set to become the world’s first trillionaire within 25 years.
For more, check out Jobs & Hire’s report on how Bill Gates stays incognito in public.
