“11 pieces of advice for children” by Nina Panickssery

I came up with these principles when I was a child myself.

1. Don’t be a sheep 🐑. Avoid mindlessly copying others. Resist the urge towards conformity. Think for yourself whether something is worth doing and useful for your goals. If appearing to conform is useful for your goals, think about ways to do the bare minimum. Others are making very many mistakes you don’t want to make, and things can be done much better and more effectively than most people do them. (Be extra aware of this point if you are a girl, girls are naturally drawn towards conformity. Girls must practice not conforming, standing out, being weird, so that they are comfortable with not following the herd when it comes to important matters.)
2. Don’t delude yourself. Sometimes it's useful to pretend to belief a falsehood, but don’t go as far as to start actually believing itself yourself.
3. Related—think freely. Never be afraid to think a thought in the privacy of your own head. All thoughts are thinkable, no matter how scared you might be to express them.
4. Be realistic about your (and others’) natural/genetic qualities. If you are much smarter than others, keep that in mind. If you are [...]

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
April 5th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/cqriGHCwmKZa2v862/11-pieces-of-advice-for-children

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.