What would you say to a younger you?

[J4mes]

Wear sunscreen

[grr666]

[biker7]

I retired at 53. Had 20 bikes since then. Def 43 is the absolute max - you are still young enough to feel young. Dying men rarely say, "I wish I'd worked more!" Buy houses, do up, buy more. Retire young. Working with those you hate is not fun. Ride the biggest fastest best bike as soon as you can. Better a young king than an old prince. But most of all, take all the young women who beg. One day there will only be memories and lots of old ladies.
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Swansea area
Fat Bob (2019)

[M.C]

[hellkat]

Oh, financial stability, yes.
How could I forget "Do not trust your mother with your money".

*bangs forehead*
Duh!
____________________
Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Andy_Pagin]

I'd tell teenage me "Bicycle brake cables don't last forever, one day they'll both snap when you're tail-gating a car at 25mph."
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[stevo as b4]

1, don't crap on yourself!

2, look after you more and stop putting others first.

3, take all opportunities that are thrown at your feet.

4, if you know what you really want to do career wise, pursue it relentlessly like a shark don't let people say no!

5, if you can work for yourself and be poor but fulfilled it's pure gold!

6, when it's all gone to shit and your done for, don't let anyone take you alive.

[chickenstrip]

[Johnnythefox]

Pass bike test on 250 in 1980 instead of selling it to buy a mini 1275gt even if still my fave car.

Buy loads more copies of all those classic rock vinyl so you would have made an even bigger fortune selling collection.

Have more sex with that 18 year old girl when you were single aged 48

Learn to play guitar.

Don't smoke, (given up last three years)

[recman]

Take more risks but just remember that racing bikes aren't designed for jumping.

[andyscooter]

Either join army when young and fit enough

Or keep in the 6-2 job that paid well and when the sold it I would have gain a fair few quid
____________________
gilera runner vxr200 (chavped)
if its spelt wrong its my fat fingers and daft auto correct on my tablet

[MarJay]

It's all about confidence.
____________________
British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[hellkat]

Thought of a couple more to tell the young and impetuous me:

* Cigarettes are not cool.
* Talk to more boys. Boys are too shy to talk to you 'cos of your tits. Men are not.
* Finish the HGV course.
* Don't bunk the piano lessons.
____________________
Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[hellkat]

[hellkat]

Oh dear, starting to think about mistakes or bad decisions I have let go by.

There's rather a lot of them

But then, if I hadn't have done some of those things, my life would not be how it is now.

If I changed even a small thing, I might have ended up not having had my lovely Anita and that would be just unimaginable.
____________________
Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Andy_Pagin]

When a tiny obscure software house run by a nerd called Bill Gates starts issuing share, buy each and every one.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[hellkat]

[oldpink]

nothing really just follow your instinct
I have had a few major changes of direction in my life that have came about from being in the right place at the right time and saying f*ck it why not
I have 3 wonderful kids that have their own life's now. a reasonable future and roughly where I want to be right now
53 years old kids moved out leaving me & the Mrs and the cats
better off than I was when they were here
get to go runs on the bikes with my sons no real debt to speak of and not many items on my bucket list to tick off

all in all if the 63 bus splats me tomorrow I don't have any thing's I would change if I could apart from not stepping out as the bus was going by
____________________
I have become comfortably numb

Theory & hazard 24-may 2016, CBT 8th June 2016, MOD 1 2nd Aug 2016 Mod 2 2nd-Nov 2016 - Current bike CBR 600 RR

[c_dug]

Probably this:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/76/14/cf/7614cf3e5f5cb859c0ca5769e6a53973.jpg
____________________
I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[M.C]

[Alpineandy]

[RhynoCZ]

Less drinking, more fecking and don't procrastinate.
____________________
'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[chickenstrip]

[Howling Terror]

[barrkel]

I think there's two classes of advice one could give: don't do that bad thing, or do do this good thing.

Advice to not do the bad thing is predicated on it being done between younger you and you today, so that advice isn't broadly applicable.

Advice on doing the good thing is tough. If you had a hard time figuring out what to do with your life, what you were good at, then advice on what to seek out would help, but it's still not broadly applicable.

Time-travelling advice difficulty is compounded by the lack of context and agency that young people often have. It's all very well to recommend to make more out of opportunities, but often that takes skill and knowledge, not just a suggestion. You have to recognize an opportunity when it comes, and know that it's decent (to avoid opportunity cost), which requires calibration, which young people don't have until they're older. See the Secretary problem for a mathematical way to think about this.

On lack of agency: the standard treadmill for young people goes school, college (course chosen based on aptitude and interest), job (chosen based on education and interest), life partner, house, children, etc. What we do is path-dependent on how we arrived at that point, all the way back to choices our parents made. But you can't advise selecting your parents!

The single biggest thing that would have helped me in my early days isn't anything I could advise my early self to do; it would have been to be mentored by a well-placed professional in industry. What could have helped make that happen? Living in a different area, parents with a different social circle, going to a different school and making friends with children who had relevant parents, etc. There isn't much actionable here, beyond writing personal letters to people I had no personal connection to, or even knew how to find the addresses of.

But if you could choose your parents, that would be my advice: choose differently. Not because the ones I had did anything wrong in particular, but rather that their life choices were quite a distance away from what would have been best for how I turned out (not in any way they could have predicted).
____________________
Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ