This is something I wish I had read when I was 15, 16, 17, 18. It’s written for a very narrow audience, and does not apply to the vast majority of people. Here goes.

Hey, you. I see you. You’re struggling in school. None of it seems to make sense, it’s like this vast circus, this vast zoo of domesticated people jumping through hoops to qualify for the opportunity to jump through more hoops and get treats for it, and the whole thing strikes you as perverse and insane. You want out. But you know that you’re bonded to your parents, you know that you don’t have any money. You know you’re screwed if you run away from home– you can’t survive. You’re just stuck in this miserable cycle and you’re hoping that it will all make sense one day.

Here’s the thing. Schools aren’t making kids jump through hoops because they’re cruel or hurtful. They’re doing it because they don’t really know any better. The world is changing dramatically and schools are centuries-old institutions that can’t adapt quickly enough. And for a lot of people, the value proposition makes sense. For a lot of people, life is perfectly fine if you just go to school and do as you’re told and then get a job and do as you’re told and then get married and do as you’re told. Really. You’re a little weird. But that’s okay, we’ll figure it out together.

So here’s the deal. If you don’t like the zoo, your duty to yourself is to figure out how to survive in the wild. You should learn about food, for instance, and figure out how food works. Learn how to cook, so that you can save money and prepare food for cheaper, and not have to go hungry. You should learn how to socialize with people effectively. School doesn’t teach you social skills, which is sorta cruel. Read more books. Read How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Read Robert Greene’s 48 Laws Of Power. Read about Benjamin Franklin, and Voltaire, and Montaigne, and Seneca. These guys have thought about your concerns long before you, and they’ve got some pretty wise, sagely advice for you that will make your life much less miserable.

Oh yeah, you’re going to have to figure out how to survive economically. This is a lot less difficult than people make it out to be. All you need to do is to develop a skill that people are willing to pay money for. Here are some things that are always in demand– computer engineering. The ability to code, to build websites, web apps, mobile apps. The ability to do good visual design– photoshop, illustrator. The ability to write well, about anything. The ability to think clearly. You want to develop these abilities, and more importantly, you want to communicate this ability to the world.

For me, my blog was my “lucky break”. But it wasn’t really about luck. It was about probability. Write long enough on the Internet, and sooner or later people will find you through search engines. Write about a broad range of things and sooner or later you’ll find yourself writing about something that some people care about. I’ve been writing these word vomits with the explicit intention of NOT writing for an audience, and even then I’ve had a blogpost go to the front page of Hacker News and get tens of thousands of views, and I’ve had another post be one of the top ten most shared posts on Medium, and all of this exposure gets me all kinds of cool job offers that give me all sorts of flexibility.

There is nothing great about me. I practiced writing– and it wasn’t even a really deliberate practice, I sort of flaffed around a lot– while I was doing my National Service. Anybody can do that. If I could go back in time, I would’ve started writing regularly as early as possible. I would’ve kept my blog from primary school running all the way. (Sigh, Diary-X died. I would’ve saved archives and maybe exported them to blogspot or wordpress or something.) I would’ve kept myself as tech-savvy as possible, and learnt to code if possible. I would’ve learnt to draw– the ability to communicate ideas visually is incredibly powerful.

Don’t bother with Facebook and Twitter and all that nonsense. Those things are largely distractions. There are some opportunities you might find, but mostly it’s people commisserating with one another. Which is alright, it’s nice feelings, and even getting into passionate arguments about social issues and Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy and all of that stuff can feel really important. But at the end of the day it’s not going to put food in your belly and a roof over your head. Your number one priority, as a person who’s falling through the cracks of the education system, is to figure out how you’re going to contribute economically. Do this by running as many cheap experiments as you can– don’t do any MLM bullshit. My personal last resort was to work as banquet staff at Shangri La Hotel– I did some part time work there when I was trying to fund my band’s EP, and the management liked me because I spoke clearly, was friendly, attentive and willing to learn. I imagine I could’ve made some decent cash– enough to pay rent and for food– and I could’ve focused on building up my body of work.

If I have to condense all of that– if you’re not going to depend on your grades and your degree– all of those things are really just pieces of paper that signal that you might be a person capable of creating value– your job is to create as much value as you possibly can.

I recommend reading a bunch of essays– off the top of my head, you should read the following essays by Paul Graham:

• How To Make Wealth
• How To Do What You Love
• What You’ll Wish You’d Known
  
• Why Nerds Are Unpopular
• After Credentials

Read as much as you can about great historical figures who had to struggle with difficulty and make difficult decisions. Be as prudent as you possibly can. Save all your money. Drink water over soft drinks. Avoid smoking if you can, it burns quite a bit of money. Exercise regularly. Reach out to older folks over Twitter or email and ask them for advice. You’d be amazed at how many people are very happy to chat with any young person with initiative. These folks might not give you a job straight away, but you can ask them stuff like, “What would you look for in a person you’d hire”, and then you can go on to build yourself those skills.

Life can be very fun and rewarding. You don’t have to feel sorry for yourself. You don’t have to get into elaborate identity performance, you don’t have to argue with your friends about whether you should go to University or not, whether JC or Poly is better. All of that is drama, wayang, distraction. Focus on bettering yourself.