Kevin Kelly: The Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier

Kevin Kelly co-founded Wired magazine in 1993 and served as its executive editor for its first seven years. Prior to that, he helped launch The Well, a pioneering online service in 1985, and was publisher and editor of an offshoot of The Whole Earth Catalog. He co-chairs the board of the Long Now Foundation, a membership organization that champions long-term thinking and responsibility to future generations. In these endeavors and more, Kelly has become an icon to early generations of technology workers. But, as a futurist, he is also interested in sharing his wisdom with younger generations just entering the workforce.

On his 68th birthday, Kelly wrote down for his young adult children some things he had learned about relationships, business, and life that he wished he had known earlier. To his surprise, he had more to say than he thought, so he continued composing these short passages of guidance until he had more than 400 of them. He has now compiled these inspirational concepts into a book, Excellent Advice for Living.

Kelly’s bits of advice cover a broad range of subject matter, and each statement is meant to be a memorable prompt for an action one could take. Many of them are about right living, good conduct, and civility. There is advice on setting ambitious goals, forgiveness and gratitude, taking responsibility for mistakes, optimizing generosity, and cultivating awareness, compassion and creativity.

While his book is aimed primarily at young people, and in particular at young professionals, it's message could speak to anyone at any stage of life. Please join as a Bay Area trendsetter shares wise, practical and optimistic life advice—something all of us could us right now.