The BRO Code for Young Women

Know your worth, and don't put it on sale.

Not in a slogan way. In an "I am not waiting three days for a text" way.

Learn to budget before you learn to shop.

A spreadsheet is the most powerful accessory a young woman can own.

Choose friends who make you better.

If you leave every hangout feeling worse, it is not a friendship. It is a subscription.

Get good at something.

A trade, a skill, an instrument. Competence is the best confidence there is.

Call your grandmother.

She has advice, recipes and opinions about your hair. Take two out of three.

Dress so people remember what you said.

Let your words do the talking and your outfit back them up.

Pay off the card every month.

Interest is a monthly bill for something you already forgot you bought.

Learn to cook a few real meals.

Anyone can order in. A woman who can feed a room is a force.

Keep your standards high and your heart soft.

Ask for the raise.

Practice in the car. The worst answer is "not yet," and it comes with a plan.

Find older women worth copying.

Ask them to coffee. They will say yes faster than you think.

Take the long view on love.

The right man will still be the right man next year. Don't rush.

Keep a few things private.

Not every feeling needs an audience.

Don't text him back at 1 a.m.

Nothing wise has ever been decided after midnight.

Don't measure yourself by likes.

Likes are the cotton candy of self-esteem. Sweet, fast and gone.

Don't let anyone pressure you into anything.

A man worth your time respects "no" the first time you say it.

Don't spend your twenties fixing a man who won't fix himself.

You are not a repair shop. You are a whole person with plans.

Don't take life advice from someone selling tea on the internet.

If it worked, they would not need your discount code.

Don't shrink your plans to fit someone else's comfort.

Don't go into debt for a wardrobe.

Clothes go out of style. Interest never does.

Don't drink more than you can remember.

Your future self would like to recall the evening.

Don't burn bridges on your way out of a job.

The industry is smaller than it looks, and everybody knows your old manager.

Don't mistake mean for honest.

Kind and honest fit in the same sentence.

Don't let your phone plan your evening.

Put it down and go do something worth writing a letter about.

Don't keep a friend who only calls when she needs something.

Don't be afraid to be the one who leaves early.

Nothing good has ever been said at 2 a.m. in a parking lot.