Buffett's first rule — 'Everything in moderation' — came with an honest admission that he learned it the hard way at age 40. Hangovers had started to feel 'like surgical recovery,' and he had watched too many talented people destroy themselves through excess. The image of a road littered with career wreckages was particularly vivid coming from someone who had spent decades in the music industry, where self-destruction is almost a cliche. Buffett had seen firsthand what happened when talented people couldn't or wouldn't moderate their behavior — and he acknowledged being at risk himself before making the change. 'These days I get up about the time I used to go to bed,' he told the graduates. The transformation from late-night excess to early-morning discipline hadn't diminished his creativity or his joy in life — it had actually enabled both to flourish over a career spanning more than 600 songs.