I'm a nearly 60 year old gal who has had many life experiences. I have been a graduate dental school instructor for 12 years and spent 30 yrs. in the Navy as an orthodontist. What I have learned, I would like to share with others.
Life is too short to be constantly reinventing the "wheel". I grew up in a very disadvantaged environment but learned early on that you must above all, rely upon yourself.
A good trait to cultivate is observation and listening. I always felt as a younger person that one day I would not make any more mistakes. Later I learned that one should always be open to learning from mistakes. Another one was to minimize the severity of the mistakes. Finally, one should try to WAY minimize financial mistakes.