A lot of people ask, what do know now that you wish you would have known back when you were in High school. I had to think about that a lot. I am the first to admit that I made a lot of mistakes in my education career. For one thing I did not take grade school seriously enough. I also made every mistake possible when it came to going to college. But now that I have accomplished a few things in my life, I think I can give some advice.
Let me start by saying what you don't need to know in high school. You don't need to know what your career will be when you grow up or what you will do with your life. in reality there is no hurry to decide what you will do with your life at age 16 or 18.
You don't need to rush into a decision. And besides its okay to change your mind. The best thing to do is figure out what are your options. Figure out what you like. The happiest people on earth are people who are doing the things they like. You have to work on things you like if you want to be good at what you do.
It might seem easier to just decide what you like. But it is hard to get a good idea of jobs are lreally like by just reading a book or watching TV. But there also jobs that no one is doing them yet. The world changes fast. Most people growing up in the 1960s and 70s did not even know what a computer was much less the internet. Imagine how fast things have changed since you were a 2nd grader (I can't remember anything about when I was a first grader other than being thrown by a bully into the ground and breaking a tooth). Things have changed fast, some jobs no longer exist.
Also don't think you can't do what other people can do. With some unusual exceptions, most talented people started out just like you and I. Yes natural ability is a factor. It would be silly to suggest that someone that is 4 feet tall will ever be successful playing in the NBA. But many can accomplish things when they enjoy what they are doing and work hard at trying to get better at it.
A lot people will suggest to you to set a goal and work backward to figure out what you need to do to get there. This is one good way to plan your future. But happens if you plan for a future that might not be there when you graduate? Another approach is to start now by choosing to study or do things that give you more choices. For example if your thinking of studying economics or math. Math gives you more choices because math is used more professions than the more specific economics.
One thing I wish I learned then that I know now is how important grade school and high school was in preparing me to go to college. I should have been more organized and turned in my homework on time (done neatly). I mean have the battle is just turning in the homework on time. Your making it harder for you to learn the following day if you did not do the previous work that would have prepared you.
Ask yourself what are you most interested in? Maybe the right question is what are you curious about? What drives you to learn more, to ask more about? What makes you hungry to learn more? Curiosity turns hard things into play. For example Albert Einstien the problem of relativity wasn't something he did because it was hard, he studied because he was curious, it was mystery that he had to solve. He was not going to be happy until he solved that problem. But it probably did not feel like work to him because his curiosty made the dificulty fade away and instead it was fun for him. What about some of the great authors like Shakespeare? Do you think he hated writing literature? Of course not he was having fun writing. That is why he is considered a good writer. It can be the same for you, what are you interested in? People who do great things look at the world and are curious about why is something the way it is. What if it were different?
But how do you know? Spend a lot of time doing what you are interested in. Choose what is fun and pick a project that will stretch your abilities. It does not have to be a school project. It should be something you do for yourself. Do something you like that you can finish. Keep doing it. Try to do it better than anyone else. Avoid things that are easy for you. It needs to be fun yes but it has make you grow your skills and therefore increase your enjoyment. It,s okay if your first efforts are bad. The first writings of many famous writers were bad. They got rejected for good reason. The important thing is to do stuff. Stuff you like that will stretch your enjoyment and skill.
And you don't have to wait to be an adult to start doing things. There is no magic switch that gets flipped when you reach a certain age (except for the law) to start doing things. The point is people put a lot of restrictions in their heads about why they can't do something. Most of it is a little voice in your head trying to keep you from doing important things. Don't listen and do something now that your curious about.
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