Every now and again, someone emails me and asks for very general advice. (“How do I change the world?”) With the caveat that I’ve only lived a fraction of one life, and am still trying to figure things out, but I always have bad advice to give out.

• Do a humanities or business degree that leaves you with obscene amounts of free time. Then start a band or something.

• Say no to enough parties that you stop getting invited. Then go home and read in peace.

• Never vote. It’s not worth it.

• Occasionally, train after 24 hours of no sleep. It’s pretty fun.

• If you’re young, spend your paychecks immediately. Save like, 10% if you want to. The present value of money is higher than you think, and there’s too many useful things to buy for thrift to be worth it. You’ll make more money in the future anyway.

• Renounce moderation until it drives people nuts.

• Steal lyrics by listening to songs where messy vocals make it hard to hear exactly what’s being sung, and then write down what you think you heard.

• Never get 8 hours of sleep, you don’t need it if most of your day is just spent sitting around.

• Don’t do things you hate doing. Learn to enjoy them, or stop.