Sad and aimless at 40 or 50? Listen to this Bill Gates advice

James Julian
Famously Happy
Published in
4 min readJul 30, 2024

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You would have to dig for a long time to find me at age 40.

I was so mentally low from more than a decade of alcohol abuse and unfulfilled potential that I could practically feel the heat of the earth’s core.

It was easy at the time to believe that I was destined to live out my worst nightmare: being a sad, normie loser who commuted to a boring job every day until he died young (yet tired-looking and grey).

But there’s a lot to be said for rock bottom.

And there’s a lot to be said for believing your current chapter isn’t necessarily your last one.

Just ask billionaire tech genius Bill Gates.

If you’re feeling like you’re not reaching your potential, you should listen to this Bill Gates advice.
If you’re feeling like you’re not reaching your potential, you should listen to this Bill Gates advice. (Licensed by the author under the Unsplash+ License)

A most important lesson from Bill Gates

Last week, I came across an article describing a commencement address Bill Gates gave to forestry program students at Northern Arizona University in 2023.

As you may or may not be aware, Gates is one of history’s most famous college drop-outs.

He left Harvard University early to start Microsoft before returning there to give the commencement address in 2007. He also spoke at Stanford University in 2014.

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