(1) People.

I paid full tuition in my course to get
some understanding of people.

Dad had some understanding, and Mom was
really good at it, but neither tried very
hard to teach me.

In particular:

[i] Boys and girls, men and women are very
different.

(A) The cliche that boys pay attention to
things and girls, to people is not fully
true but significantly often is true.

(B) Once from a real expert I got a flat
statement: "Of COURSE, women are MUCH
more emotional than men. That is the
cause of all the problems.". That
answered a lot of questions!

(C) A large fraction of girls and women tend
to be afraid -- the list is long with some
standard items and some more. One of the
more important things a boy/man can do is
make it really clear to the female that
they are at zero risk with him.

(D) Generally girls/women are exposed to some
means of manipulation, and some of them
get good at it -- boys/men need to watch
out for that.

(E) Some girls are afraid of being in love
(there is a lot to understanding love, and
I can't cover all of it here) but, still,
are very interested in sex. For them,
holding hands can be more intimate than
sexual intercourse. Boys/men need to
realize that.

[ii] A surprisingly large fraction of
people are in some significant ways
seriously mixed up. So, watch out for
that. Also have a list of common ways and
watch out for those.

(2) Business

It took me way too long to understand the
importance of business, even just
small/medium business, as a path to being
financially responsible and maybe even
secure.

In particular, for a good job in the
economy as an employee, there has to be up
there somewhere some person(s) who did
well enough in business to have created
that job.

So, being an employee is limited by the
jobs other people create. It is better to
be the person who is successful enough in
business to create good jobs.

E.g., at one time I had a relatively
good career going as just an employee in
computing. Then (A) I didn't appreciate
how that career would have to change or
how to make that career a lot better,
e.g., by starting a business or being such
a good employee that I could get stock in
a growing company. (B) To be better
qualified as an employee, I got a Ph.D. in
pure/applied math. I didn't appreciate
that in fact, in reality, in the US, a
Ph.D. is intended for people who want to
be devoted to an academic career and put
up with being, in my view, financially
irresponsible. I had zero interest in
being a professor.

The academic work and my independent study
are crucial parts of my startup, but the
Ph.D. was a very inefficient way to get
some help on some of the parts. I
conclude that, generally, a Ph.D. is more
trouble than it is worth and financially
irresponsible. Learning can be important,
but a Ph.D. is an inefficient way to do
it.

(3) Stock

At one time the founder, CEO of FedEx told
me

"You know, if you stay you are in line for
$500,000 in FedEx stock."

I was holding a really good hand but
didn't know enough to play it at all well.

I didn't stay.

My father understood even less than I did.
Mom, didn't have a clue.

(4) Art

In high school and through college, the
teaching kept trying to get me to pay
attention to art, especially literature.
I didn't see the value. And the lessons
in literature were not very credible, that
is, I could not trust that they would
really be true, say, like Newton's Second
Law.

For art, I like the definition --

"The communication, interpretation of
human experience, emotion."

With that definition, okay -- via art can
get some views of examples of the
experiences, emotions of other people.
Maybe sometimes the examples do illustrate
something about a lot of people and not
just some one.

With that definition, I might have paid a
little more attention to literature and
gotten a little value from it.

Being successful with people is CRUCIAL,
and understanding their possible
experiences, emotions can be important for
the success.

For me and art, I liked music a lot right
away, some before I was 5. Explaining just
why took me a while!

(5) Jobs and Marriage

Apparently some of the prosperity of the
US now is due to having a lot of women
working.

A lot of career paths require moving
frequently. But those moves can play
havoc with a marriage having two jobs.
And with only one job, it can be tough
financially to buy a house and do well
supporting the family.

Lesson: A career that does not require
moving has a big advantage in being
financially secure and doing well
supporting a family.

So, if you want to pursue a career that
has you move or be in some really
expensive place to live, then consider
delaying getting married.

(6) Gossip

In an office, and maybe in much of a life,
gossip can be a threat.

In an office, if you do well, then others
can feel threatened and attack you with
gossip.

So, apparently it is not enough to assume
you are innocent until proven guilty and
instead need positively to assert
innocence on likely gossip accusations.

I'm no expert on how to defend against
gossip, finding a good expert could be
important, but I'm sure that gossip
commonly is a threat. So, watch out for
gossip. If it appears you have been
attacked by gossip, then (ask an expert)
do defend yourself.