However, I believe that giving people advice on mistakes to avoid and things to do just leads to them making better mistakes - not no mistakes, just level 1 mistakes rather than level 0 mistakes.

So I was talking with a friend of mine from Stanford, and we are are collecting a short list of resources, book recommendations, articles, general tips, and advice to send out to the incoming freshman class of Stanford University '17.

So far on the list we have:

A collection of Quora posts along the theme of 'what do you wish you had known when you were 20'.

TED: How Great Leaders Inspire Action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4)

Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/your-lifestyle-has-already-been-designed/)

6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person (http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/)

Career Advice (http://www.thoughtcrime.org/blog/career-advice/)

What would you tell them?

And additionally, how can we frame this in a way that the advice actually sinks in?

(I'm reminded of “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”)