How did Bill Gates get so rich ?

How did Bill Gates get so rich? By erasing word vacation from his dictionary

The rise of Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates from being a Harvard dropout to the richest man in the world is the kind of stuff that dreams are made of. But have you ever wondered what it takes to be 'that man' behind the PC revolution that began way back in the 80s? Multi-billionaire Bill Gates recently shared some rare insight into his life and times during a Reddit AMA session . He was as candid as candid gets. How did he become so rich? By not believing in the word "vacation" when he was in his 20s.

"I love my work. I love meeting the scientists and field workers. I have the flexibility to work less if I wanted to and I do take vacations now. When I was in my 20's I didn't believe in vacation so I have mellowed. I feel super lucky that I can be involved in the Foundation work with Melinda for another 30 years assuming my health holds up," he shared.

But, he was a Harvard dropout, wasn't he? One of the probable reasons could be his fascination for attending classes he didn't sign up for, and skip the ones that he actually did.

"I decided that I would be different and never attend any class I was signed up for but always attend a class I wasn't signed up for," he said. Still, he almost always got A's. Wait, how? "I studied super hard during reading period and almost always got A's. The big exception was organic chemistry where the promised video tapes of the lectures sometimes had no sound or no video -- that spooked me and I ended up getting a C+ in the course!" he added.

He may be a Harvard dropout (probably because he had better things to do) but his advice to one and all is: do not underestimate the power of a great education. "I think the value of getting a great education -- that is going to college -- is easy to underestimate. The most interesting jobs require a college education. The value of staying curious -- reading a lot and learning new things even after college is also underestimated," he advised.

"Most breakthrough things are done by young people and we need to surprise people with new ideas," he added while emphasising the importance of a curious mind.

And, just so you know, it's perfectly fine to act crazy, sometimes. "People thought we were a bit crazy -- even leaders in the industry like Ken Olsen said they didn't need a computer at home. Being young allowed us to think about computers in a different way," he said.

Bill Gates, who was "obsessed with programming from age 14 to 19", co-founded Microsoft along with Paul Allen , the company behind Windows operating system that has since come to dominate the world's personal computer market taking over the offices, schools and homes of almost every computer user in the world like no other. Having started its journey with version 1.0 that went on sale -- for the first time -- on November 20, 1985, Windows has reached version 10 in 2016. The company has also ventured into the hardware space courtesy its Surface line-up. And oh, before we forget, Bill Gates just switched to a Surface Book.