Spinning disks still have their uses though. For example, they're ideal for a low-to-moderate amount of disk activity, and they last longer. Just make sure you schedule a daily defragment. Spinning disks are also great for 'cold storage' of files. I wouldn't store anything worthwhile on an SSD though because of their fail-rate. SSDs of course have their use cases too, but there are many trade-offs to using them exclusively for everything. I know people who exclusively work with SSDs naively thinking they're a progression from spinning disks. Not actually the case!

Daily defragmentation on a disk with "low-to-moderate" use? Maybe that's still a Windows thing, but on my Linux systems and OSX I haven't defrag'd in ages. (Actually just once on OSX when I was grasping at straws with a disk issue).

Don't seek trophies. Nearly every endeavor in our modern world is some form of gamification. Degrees are gamification, or traveling is gamification (Think of those stamps they put on your passport. Did you really travel just to get a little stamp, or learn something new?).

Build on strengths. We all have weaknesses and it is worthwhile finding these weaknesses early so that you're not hung up about them later. You can only build on strength. Don't waste a thousand lifetimes fixing weakness.

Get a routine. The secret of success is invariably found in daily routine. Everyone has their own routine. The key is to make progress with the routine and have an 'upper hand' over others.

thank you very much for your advice!that gamification thing is really true!

I respect any hacker who gave up playing the game years ago because they realized just how insecure everything was, yet became comfortable with this (Read 'everything is broken' by Quinn Norton, and watch some of Haroon Meer's talks).

It's a kind of comfort that comes with years of hacking, and the quality of their work is unmistakeable. Look at Vinay Gupta's work on Ethereum. He openly states how much he distrusts Intel and X86 and is doing public speaking to wake others up about this. Also any person working on open hardware, or Trusted platform modules are worth watching.

I feel you. We're all building on a foundation that is so full of holes that security is like an inside joke.

I'm keeping my eye on TALOS [1], but I admit I haven't had time to research it. It's just one tiny piece of the puzzle though.

[1] https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/prerelease.php