Advice

Key ideas

Collison offers advice to his younger self for ages 10 to 20: go deep on several things, make things, think independently, and hurry.

1
Go deep on multiple things
Collison advises becoming expert in several areas, partly to learn by 20 what kinds of work you enjoy, which he thinks probably won't change much.
2
Use the internet and read a lot
He suggests befriending people online who are great at what interests you, reading widely, and finding vivid examples of success in your chosen domain, including visiting San Francisco.
3
Think for yourself and avoid the standard path
Collison holds that much of what people around you believe is mistaken, that status lags by a generation, and that if friends don't find your path a bit strange it may be too normal.
4
Make things, and don't neglect social skills
He recommends building things to experience uncertainty, while still working on first impressions, humor, and public speaking.
5
Hurry
He notes that people who did great things often did the work very young, so he urges starting now; on ages 20 to 30 he says he doesn't know yet.

“Go deep on things. Become an expert.”

“If not, maybe it's too normal.”

“People who did great things often did so at very surprisingly young ages.”

Cover photo of Patrick Collison, not from this work: JD Lasica, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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