Looking back there are a whole lot of things that may have made a big difference in my life had I known them at the time. Or maybe not. If someone gave me good advice at 14 my smarty-pants-self would have probably ignored them. Well here they are, ten things I wish I knew at 14:

1. School’s a Joke.

That’s right I said it … school is a TOTAL waste of time. Not just grammar school (where ironically I learned no grammar) and high school but college too. All those years add up to 16 years of your life listening to so-called teachers pontificate about one subject of another while at the end of that incredibly long American ritual you can’t so much as patch up your jammies. All you really need to learn is how to read, write an do basic math and then the world is your oyster. That’s when you can get an education which is, consequently, a totally different animal from school. Pick up a book and get the gears grinding. Nowadays with the internet, learning stuff on your own is way, way easier. Can anyone say autodidact? Look that one up in the dictionary folks, it’s worth the trip. So if you plan on being a doctor, lawyer or evil scientist then go to college. If not, save up that college money and start a business.

2. Get Started ASAP

All those years what was I waiting for? To graduate college of course! That was ridiculous. I was running around as a teenager with zero responsibilities, no rent or bills to pay and what was I doing? Drawing posters with crayons and copying down vocabulary words in school. Had I known any better I would have begun building my empire. There are so many opportunities and so many things to learn that now with my late start I am overwhelmed with my job, familial duties, lethargy et cetera. Now had I begun on the path to success earlier well what an interesting ride this would have been. But while waiting to finish school I thought I was on the path to success. Talk about delusional. Until this day I distinctly remember when I was 16 reading about Alexander the great for the first time. He was supposedly 17 years old when he set out to conquer the world. I would be 17 the following year and I was still living with my parents and abiding by a curfew. I sensed things were a bit askew.

3 . You Aren’t Entitled to Anything

I grew up knowing I was smart and that’s because my teachers kept telling me so. My “smartness” was based on obedience, grades and standardized test scores. Turns out that I was a big idiot for taking any of that stuff seriously. I always figured that because I was brainy that success would come knocking at my door. Well, that’s not how things work. You gotta have the smarts and a sweaty brow to be a big shot but I thought I was a big shot already. I should have gotten a second opinion.

4. Reality is Better than Virtual Reality

Well, this one might be a no brainer but I used to think that school was the ultimate reality and I hated that. At 14 peering down four years of high school and another four years of college was something I would rather not want to think about. So what did I do? Distractions, distractions, distractions. I watched TV and played lots of video games. That eventually develops into habits that are tough to kick. I cannot describe how horrible TV programs are yet I still sit there mesmerized by that Frasier episode I’ve seen a billion times. Why? Because it was a sedative. You only get one life; if you work it out all those hours wasted watching TV it gets sad, real sad.

5. Guard Your Gut

I love to eat and eat a lot. I love good food and by good I mean unhealthy and fattening. You would think with all my teacher affirmed smartness I would balance the munchies with plenty of exercise. Well, that’s not how things turned out. During high school and the early part of college I was very active. Then came the creeping inactivity. When I started making some money and got a car instead of walking everywhere and having free entertainment like basketball, soccer and working out in the college gym me and my friends went to movies and ate out. Eventually, college got more difficult and responsibilities began to pile on until I did less and less exercising. After a while a passing thought about doing push ups was enough to make me sweat. The moral of the story: make sure you get nutritionally savvy and make time for a few laps, even if they’re around your favorite kabob joint.

6. Stop and Smell the Roses … at 4000 ft.

Life is short and you only get one. Go out there and take some risks getting to know nature. There’s so much beauty out there and I think photographs and video have deterred us from seeking it out. A great view is one thing but hiking up a 4000 foot mountain and then gazing upon the conquered terrain just makes everything more vivid. Nothing is better to help you relax, put things in perspective and appreciate the majesty of ALLAH’s creation than getting out there and exploring what HE fashioned for us.

Then take that risk taking attitude into your life. Public speaking? Piece of cake compared to a 15 mile hike over three mountains. You can do anything! And you know what? You won’t if you don’t. I was always waiting for something. What are you waiting for?

7. Get in on the Up and Coming

This internet thing was really fun to use for a long time but I always thought it was some arcane “techies only” kinda place where if I wanted to participate I had to spend years learning programming, which terrified me. But it’s really much easier than I thought (and no programming necessary, thank God). There are so many opportunities out there with the internet and other technologies that are constantly being churned out. You should never let yourself retreat into a comfort zone go out there; explore, learn and take on a challenge. If you don’t have the time you’re lying. When I think of all the things I could have learned had I epiphanized (I know it’s not a word, poetic license, look it up) earlier …

8. Rebel Often and Rebel Smart

I often say to myself, if I was able to go back in time to high school knowing the things I know now, I would have owned the school. There were so many opportunities to cause trouble without actually getting into trouble. Ruffling the feathers of authoritarian teachers and having my way with the system would have been more fun than being a passive victim like I was won’t to be. I sort of got a shot at that when I was in grad school. Those teachers suffered my wrath.

Basically, all authority must be held up to a certain criteria and if it fails to meet that criteria then you can start having fun. I’m not talking about going after your parents or the mythical “good” teacher, but even if your parents command you to do something wrong you gotta call them out even though in general their authority is legitimate. However, completely illegitimate authority deserves little if any respect, so have fun but be smart. Also it’s always good to exercise the courage muscle and weather some disdain for a good cause. It’s a good habit to cultivate and the better you get at it the more fun it will be. But it’s important to rebel for a good cause and not just for the sake of rebelling. Take Ibrahim (a.s.) as an example. He was the ultimate rebel against polytheism and subhanallah, hearing his stories gets me every single time. There was just so much courage, wisdom and intelligence in his actions. That’s the kind of rebellion I’m talking about.

9. Invest in Yourself

You always have to think about how to improve yourself in every way possible; spiritually, professionally, physically, socially, intellectually et cetera. Take every available opportunity to do so. It’s important to become a well-rounded person who actually possesses real skills and assets because it feels good when you accomplish things in comparison to killing brain cells watching the boob tube. Do you load and unload watermelons but like youtube? Learn how to make a video and upload it, even if it’s a little crappy at first. Are you a doctor that likes fine cuisine? Learn the culinary arts! (And invite me over.) As for me, well I was too smart to actually learn anything new.

1 0. Dollars and Sense

Money is funny. A bit of guidance might have gone a long way in handling money. I never established a budget when I began working and never thought of investing my money. I’m pretty sure I would be more than a little wealthier had I been able to invest just a fraction of my earnings in my early days at the plow. But managing my finances is not something I worried about. Figuring out ways of enjoying it was my concern. Turns out I may have been a bit misguided.

I’m too smart for that

So I’ve made some mistakes, but I learned a whole lot to be sure. And really I couldn’t say that if someone came up to me at 14 and gave me this kind of advice that I would follow any of it. I was probably too “smart” for that at the time. Now that I look back, it’s kind of embarrassing how incredibly stupid I was. Well if you’re 14 take heed. And if you’re significantly older then I say: it’s never too late to start.