Alex Wong/Getty Images
- Microsoft's cofounder Bill Gates lacked motivation when he was at school and was 'lazy' at math.
- He admitted in his podcast that he used to think "the less effort you put in, the cooler you were."
- The billionaire dropped out of Harvard University to join the computing revolution and start Microsoft.
Bill Gates opened up about his early education in a recent podcast interview, admitting that he had a lack of motivation and drive when he was younger and a teacher had to push him to do better.
The billionaire spoke on the second episode of his podcast Unconfuse Me where he chatted with Sal Khan – founder of the non-profit online education platform Khan Academy – about how technology like artificial intelligence can help children learn.
"Early on in math, I was kind of lazy," 67-year-old Gates said. "And a teacher in eighth grade said, you know: 'How come you're so lazy? You could be really good at this.' I said: 'But we're not doing anything interesting.'"
Gates explained that the teacher would give him books to read and push him to do better.
"It made a huge difference that he sort of thought I was wasting my time. It changed my whole view of education. I kind of had this view that the less effort you put in, the cooler you were."
Gates famously dropped out of Harvard University in 1975 to start Microsoft with cofounder Paul Allen.
He previously said he had a "great experience" at the university but was worried about missing out on being a part of the computing revolution, per Insider.
However, Gates has encouraged students to stick out the full four years of college to get the best out of their education.
Gates worked ferociously hard at Microsoft in its early days and recently said he competed with colleagues to get as little sleep as possible in his 30s and 40s because he considered it "laziness and unnecessary."
He's now focusing more on his wellbeing, he said in a previous episode of his podcast, and tracks his daily sleep score to maintain good brain health.