What I learned from reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Naval Ravikant and Eric Jorgenson.
I grew up in a single parent household with my mom working, going to school, and raising my brother and me as latchkey kids.
We were very self sufficient from a very early age.
There was a lot of hardship, but everyone goes through hardship.
It did help me in a number of ways.
We were poor immigrants.
My family split up.
My mother uniquely provided, against the background of hardship, unconditional and unfailing love.
If you have nothing in your life but you have at least one person that loves you unconditionally, it'll do wonders for your self esteem.
The library was my after school center.
After school, I would go straight to the library and hang out until they closed.
I spent a lot of time reading.
My only real friends were books.
Books make for great friends because the best thinkers of the last few thousand years tell you their nuggets of wisdom.
My first job was with an illegal catering company in the back of a van delivering indian food when I was 15.
When I was younger, I had a paper route and I washed dishes in the cafeteria.
I was a totally unknown kid in New York City from a nothing family, an immigrant's trying to survive situation.
Then I passed the test to get into Stuyvesant High School.
That saved my life because once I had the Stuyvesant brand, I got into an Ivy League college, which led me into tech.
Stuyvesant is one of those intelligence lottery situations where you can break in with instant validation.
I studied economics and computer science.