Talk to people no one else is talking to. Who would have thought that giving a speech at a funeral at age 12 would introduce me to a man who would introduce me to my first business contact who would introduce me to several other important people in my life. That's luck. That's randomness.

It got a little stressful in my first two years of high school, trying to make conference calls with investors in between classes, but I definitely learned a lot of important time-management lessons.

If frequency with which you cite an education credential does not decrease over the course of your life, you’re not accomplishing very much.

I’m skeptical of passive learning. If you don’t write down what you’re hearing and learning, what the odds you remember it?

I don't want to be normal. I want to be something else.

Sometimes I have to pause to make the distinction between Ben the teenager and Ben the businessman.

Taking on short term risk can involve switching jobs, joining new groups / associations in the area, launching a personal blog, running an experiment within your existing job. These are some practical ways to inject volatility into your life, and thus some risk.