Bill Gates was born in 1955 and the picture you see here is of him and Late Paul Allen in 1984. The two of them had started Microsoft in 1975. Simple arithmetic tells me that Gates was just 20 then. As for Paul Allen, he was born in 1953, two years earlier than Gates. But, in this picture, Allen looks much older - almost like 20 years older if I'm not mistaken.

Bill was younger, looked far younger but he clearly assumed a position of leadership over Allen.

Allen died in October 2018 while Bill Gates seems to be starting life now. He has even become a blogger.

After reflecting on the lives of these two successful Americans, I have learned a lot of lessons about lifestyle and genuine success. So, I am using this opportunity to share my lessons with fellow Nigerian youths because I see that it will help us in both life and career. I am sharing the lessons with you also in order to stamp them deeper into my own subconscious. You, decide what you will do with them.

To make the lessons effective, I will be taking my time off work to share them little by little on this space over the course of a month or so. So, anyone who is interested can subscribe to this post. I believe that, as we discuss these lessons, we will gain profound inspirations that will fire us up both individually and as a people. I see the future and it is VERY bright. Thank you.


LESSON ONE: DON'T LOOK DOWN ON YOUR PASSION/IDEA
Welcome back great African soul! I am talking to YOU as an individual. I have not addressed you this way in order to flatter you (I don't have time for flattery). Instead, I have addressed you this way because that's who you ACTUALLY are. How do I mean? To answer this question, let me start by confessing my 'sin'. Do you know why I did not start sharing these lessons from the beginning? This is the reason: I wanted it shared with only those FEW who value idea because, as Jesus said, "do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6) (DISCLAIMER: I am not a pastor and I am not religious though, but I know and love God who is the Truth. That's by the way).

The reason those dogs will fight you (rather than appreciate you) is that they do not know the value of sacred things and precious jewelry. Thus, they think you mean evil when you give them such a value. So, for YOU to know the value of knowledge enough to subscribe to this post, believe it or not, YOU are a GREAT SOUL waiting to manifest. And, without a single doubt, I know that what I share from now will help you manifest far faster than you ever thought possible from this 2020. But, you must be ready to READ thoroughly and to the END of each lesson. Readers are leaders as they say. Instead of you to waste your precious time in empty chatters that drag down your IQ level on Nairaland, why not invest it in this discussion that will SURELY transform your fortune beyond imagination from THIS VERY YEAR?

My fellow Africans, I tell you our major problem, the reason we are remaining slaves to the rest of the world from century to century: It is because the average African does not appreciate the value of idea just because idea is invisible and looks quite commonplace. Yet, all history proves that saying that "idea rules the world". So, Africa is not ruling the world all because Africa does not value knowledge and idea enough. "My people (Africans) perish for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Africa will move forward only when enough of individual Africans begin to appreciate knowledge and idea enough. Well, this cannot really happen until you value YOUR OWN ideas enough. And what can we learn from Paul Allen and Bill Gates in this regard?

Let's go back to how Microsoft started. Conventional history tells us that Microsoft was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That's true when referring to the formal rolling out of the company. But, the real birthplace of the company is Lakeside High School in Seattle, Washington DC, where both Gates and Allen attended. Allen was 10 and Gates 8 when the BASIC programming language was first written at Dartmouth College in 1963. It was still a very new IDEA then. But Bill Gates, reading news about the future possibilities of BASIC in the magazines his dad bought, became very interested in the idea.

So, little Gates began to read more and more that he could lay his hands on on the topic of BASIC (Lesson: You can never LEAD if you are lazy to READ). Everyone probably thought little Bill Gates was being childish. But he kept going. Eventually, he was 13 and still in preparatory school when he wrote his first BASIC program. That was 5 years after the very first BASIC program was written at Dartmouth College. How did this happen? The Mothers' Club of his schools PTA just donated a printer for the school (which was very rare then). They also paid for the printer to be connected to a computer owned by General Electric (it was known as buying computer time because only big corporations owned computers then). So, little Bill Gates offered to be allowed to program the GE system in BASIC which was still a new idea. The school allowed him. He was even excused from math classes to enable him do that. He eventually used BASIC to write a game for his fellow students at Lakeside Preparatory School and this made him very famous in the school.

The computing fire Gates caught by reading his dad's magazine kept burning and increasing to the point that, when he eventually enrolled into the high school section of Lakeside, everyone identified him as 'the computing kid'. Although Paul Allen was Gates' senior, he liked him for that (while many people kept hating on Gates for 'showing off'). So, Allen befriended Gates. He was beginning to catch Gates' vision. He could do that also because he valued idea. No wonder Allen's 2011 memoir where he told some of these stories was entitled Idea Man: A Memoir By The Cofounder of Microsoft.

So, I tell you my fellow African, I mean YOU, what is your overwhelming passion? What ideas occur to you about how to make the life of your community or humanity better? Do not look down on it. Instead, realize that it is your tool to lead the pack. Realize also that the idea worth billions of dollars as that 'flimsy' idea back then in Gates' 10-year-old mind is the reason he is worth $109 billion today. But, far more important than money in his bank, it is the reason computers eventually became available to millions of ordinary people like you and me. That little idea has transformed a generation and keeps doing that.

TASKS FOR YOU
This is not 'my' post. It is 'our' post. So, let us try to make it as interactive as possible. Therefore, here are tasks I propose to help us stamp this lesson deeper down.
1. Look up the phrase 'imposter syndrome' on Google. It has something to do with this lesson at downright INDIVIDUAL level. Please, kindly share with us how imposter syndrome may have affected you in life?

2. What more inspiration can you add to this lesson?

3. Please, if you support, click here to help stop Microsoft from the proposed end of life (EOL) for Windows 7 scheduled for January 14, 2020. It is a page for those who prefer Windows 7 to Windows 10. It shows clearly why Windows 7 should not be phased out yet and how YOU could help to extend the life of our darling Windows 7. Thank you.

Cool

Following...

Quite thoughtful of you.

following...but you haven't tell us what you have learnt.

PARKS BUS

Noted.

Following

1955 to 1984 and u said 20yrs

LOVEGINO:
1955 to 1984 and u said 20yrs

1955 to 1975..

When you read about successful individuals, you tend to believe nothing is impossible for you to achieve.

What most people fail to realize is, these men while on the path to success took a lot of risk . Although What you categorize as risk varies according to you level of intelligence. Ask yourself, as old as you are what significant risk have you taken?

Follow ,,,

If you go dey okay Las Las you go dey ok

Mad o

MissSweet:
following...but you haven't tell us what you have learnt.

The guy na fool na
Using bill gates name for cheap clout

You can not share what you do not have.

Bill Gates is not your name.

Oga 10mobile, you no sabi wetin to share again, abi you don forget wetin you been wan share?

Nnaa na wa o!

Vortex369:
You can not share what you do not have.

Bill Gates is not your name.

Out of everything you could have said.

LESSON ONE: DON'T LOOK DOWN ON YOUR PASSION/IDEA
Welcome back great African soul! I am talking to YOU as an individual. I have not addressed you this way in order to flatter you (I don't have time for flattery). Instead, I have addressed you this way because that's who you ACTUALLY are. How do I mean? To answer this question, let me start by confessing my 'sin'. Do you know why I did not start sharing these lessons from the beginning? This is the reason: I wanted it shared with only those FEW who value idea because, as Jesus said, "do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6) (DISCLAIMER: I am not a pastor and I am not religious though, but I know and love God who is the Truth. That's by the way).

The reason those dogs will fight you (rather than appreciate you) is that they do not know the value of sacred things and precious jewelry. Thus, they think you mean evil when you give them such a value. So, for YOU to know the value of knowledge enough to subscribe to this post, believe it or not, YOU are a GREAT SOUL waiting to manifest. And, without a single doubt, I know that what I share from now will help you manifest far faster than you ever thought possible from this 2020. But, you must be ready to READ thoroughly and to the END of each lesson. Readers are leaders as they say. Instead of you to waste your precious time in empty chatters that drag down your IQ level on Nairaland, why not invest it in this discussion that will SURELY transform your fortune beyond imagination from THIS VERY YEAR?

My fellow Africans, I tell you our major problem, the reason we are remaining slaves to the rest of the world from century to century: It is because the average African does not appreciate the value of idea just because idea is invisible and looks quite commonplace. Yet, all history proves that saying that "idea rules the world". So, Africa is not ruling the world all because Africa does not value knowledge and idea enough. "My people (Africans) perish for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Africa will move forward only when enough of individual Africans begin to appreciate knowledge and idea enough. Well, this cannot really happen until you value YOUR OWN ideas enough. And what can we learn from Paul Allen and Bill Gates in this regard?

Let's go back to how Microsoft started. Conventional history tells us that Microsoft was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That's true when referring to the formal rolling out of the company. But, the real birthplace of the company is Lakeside High School in Seattle, Washington DC, where both Gates and Allen attended. Allen was 10 and Gates 8 when the BASIC programming language was first written at Dartmouth College in 1963. It was still a very new IDEA then. But Bill Gates, reading news about the future possibilities of BASIC in the magazines his dad bought, became very interested in the idea.

So, little Gates began to read more and more that he could lay his hands on on the topic of BASIC (Lesson: You can never LEAD if you are lazy to READ). Everyone probably thought little Bill Gates was being childish. But he kept going. Eventually, he was 13 and still in preparatory school when he wrote his first BASIC program. That was 5 years after the very first BASIC program was written at Dartmouth College. How did this happen? The Mothers' Club of his schools PTA just donated a printer for the school (which was very rare then). They also paid for the printer to be connected to a computer owned by General Electric (it was known as buying computer time because only big corporations owned computers then). So, little Bill Gates offered to be allowed to program the GE system in BASIC which was still a new idea. The school allowed him. He was even excused from math classes to enable him do that. He eventually used BASIC to write a game for his fellow students at Lakeside Preparatory School and this made him very famous in the school.

The computing fire Gates caught by reading his dad's magazine kept burning and increasing to the point that, when he eventually enrolled into the high school section of Lakeside, everyone identified him as 'the computing kid'. Although Paul Allen was Gates' senior, he liked him for that (while many people kept hating on Gates for 'showing off'). So, Allen befriended Gates. He was beginning to catch Gates' vision. He could do that also because he valued idea. No wonder Allen's 2011 memoir where he told some of these stories was entitled Idea Man: A Memoir By The Cofounder of Microsoft.

So, I tell you my fellow African, I mean YOU, what is your overwhelming passion? What ideas occur to you about how to make the life of your community or humanity better? Do not look down on it. Instead, realize that it is your tool to lead the pack. Realize also that the idea worth billions of dollars as that 'flimsy' idea back then in Gates' 10-year-old mind is the reason he is worth $109 billion today. But, far more important than money in his bank, it is the reason computers eventually became available to millions of ordinary people like you and me. That little idea has transformed a generation and keeps doing that.

TASKS FOR YOU
This is not 'my' post. It is 'our' post. So, let us try to make it as interactive as possible. Therefore, here are tasks I propose to help us stamp this lesson deeper down.
1. Look up the phrase 'imposter syndrome' on Google. It has something to do with this lesson at downright INDIVIDUAL level. Please, kindly share with us how imposter syndrome may have affected you in life?

2. What more inspiration can you add to this lesson?

3. Please, if you support, click here to help stop Microsoft from the proposed end of life (EOL) for Windows 7 scheduled for January 14, 2020. It is a page for those who prefer Windows 7 to Windows 10. It shows clearly why Windows 7 should not be phased out yet and how YOU could help to extend the life of our darling Windows 7. Thank you.