I'm reposting this from another thread:

Hi Anthony. Welcome to flying...

A few tips, only a couple of which I knew from the beginning:

1) Keep your logbook extremely neat. Be very careful what you log and what you put in the remarks section. Become well versed on what you can log and what you cannot.

2) Keep your grades up...doesn't matter what you're taking...keep your scores high.

3) If you fly in college, that's great. The sooner the better. I suggest you get a degree in something other than just flying. Go ahead and get a degree in aviation if you must, but don't get caught unemployed during a recession with a measly BS in aeronautical science. I'm speaking from ongoing experience. Double major with something non-aviation or do something else entirely for a degree.

4) Know that when instructors harp on the regulations and rules, they aren't being squares. The people who last and prosper in aviation do it on the high road.

5) Don't burn your bridges...any of them. I've learned this the hard way...and I probably haven't finished learning it either. Anywhere you go, aviation is about networking and contacts.

6) Abide by number 5, but never get on your knees to kiss a$$. You can fly 10,000 hours in the most adverse and tough environment on the planet and never get the honor of being called an aviator. But kiss just one a$$, and you're an a$$ kisser for life.

7) Read, read, and read. Knowledge is power and will make you a better pilot. Flight Sim X will get you used to what the dials and gauges look like, but the Jeppesen Private Pilot manual and FAA Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical knowledge will tell you what's actually going on. Flight Sim is a game. I was saying the same stuff you were about Flight Sim 10 years ago. It will make you more comfortable, but it's still a whole different ball game no matter what anyone tells you.

8) Stay in shape. Fitness will effect your flying for better or worse.

9) When you start flying for hire, as an instructor or otherwise, enjoy it. For your own reputation, never allow yourself to treat the job like you're just using it for time...flying is a relatively small community, and having a reputation as a solid, hardworking guy may eventually mean something. Work hard and enjoy whatever flying you are doing...because you can't spend your whole career waiting for flying to become something you want to do.

10) Listen to the older guys...you don't have to believe everything you hear, but there's a lot to be learned. The day you stop learning is likely to be the day of your last flight.

11) Know that when you get into flying for hire, the actual science of flying will no longer preoccupy your worries. If you read the threads on these forums, few of them have to do with actual flying. Most have more to do with union/management happenings, compensation, issues in the workforce, safety, and other nitty gritty topics that have more to do with life as a pilot than flying as a pilot.

12) Never forget that this stuff can kill you. It can kill others. You're just as much in the business of safety as you are in the business of flying. A mediocre pilot can make an aircraft fly in normal conditions, but so can an autopilot. As a professional, your reason for being is to augment safety. That's it.

I'm still just a low-life skydive pilot and flight instructor who just had his shot at the airlines delayed...but I'm learning...and the above are some of the things I have learned in my journey thus far.

Welcome again, and feel free to PM me with questions as well.

To everyone else, please feel free add to my list of points, or critique what I have listed. Flame away.