If you google how long it takes to master a skill, the first answer to pop up is 10,000 hours. That’s about 417 days. I have been in high school for 34 months by now. I would consider myself qualified to give a little bit of advice from my career at Tower Hill School. So in honor of the fourth and final year of high school, here are my top four things I wish I knew as a freshman.
Starting off the list at number four, we have enjoy your transportation before it’s gone. This is one of those cases where you don’t realize how good you have something until it’s gone. Whether it’s on a bus, or your mom’s minivan, if you have a commute where you are not the one driving, that is free study time. The benefits of cramming in an extra fifteen minutes (give or take) of studying before 8:30am is certainly up for debate, but I have lost count of the number of homework assignments I was able to squeeze in while my family members drove me to school. Now that I am a senior and am fortunate enough to drive myself every day, I do miss my block of time where I didn’t have to focus on the road.
My next piece of advice is something I didn’t figure out until my junior year, but I think it’s something every student should hear. If you’re feeling confused in class, you’re probably doing something right. That may seem counterintuitive, but let me explain. We’ve all had those moments in class where we look around and everyone seems to know how to do the problem on the board. Let me be the one to tell you, half of those kids are faking it. Heck, I faked it. You cannot be expected to know everything, and just by pushing yourself in that class you are doing exactly what you need to be doing in high school. Growth only happens outside your comfort zone, and to quote my freshman year track coach, “get comfortable being uncomfortable”. Also, stare intensely at your notebook and always keep your pencil moving to avoid cold calling.
Coming in at the number two spot, my most enlightening discovery was that nobody remembers anything you’re doing. I can assure you that nobody remembers that one time you dropped that pizza in the cafeteria, or when you missed that ball in practice. The thing about high schoolers is that most of us are extremely selfish. Narcissistic as it is, we tend to only really care about ourselves. You can use this to your advantage to try something new and not be upset when things don’t go your way. The one rule I’ve found about this is that you cannot mention an embarrassing moment. Memory works in funny ways where most people won’t remember anything embarrassing about you unless you bring it up. So stop self-sabotaging and when something happens that makes you want to crawl into a hole and disappear, just remember that nobody is going to remember it in a week and if they can forget about it, you can too.
I pondered for a long time about what would be my number one piece of advice. There was one common theme in all my years of school, and that was procrastination. So my very best advice to give is to remember procrastination is the enemy. Now as an avid procrastinator, I would feel dishonorable giving advice on a problem I’m still struggling with, but a quick google search can supply you with hundreds of methods to try out. And if you have never procrastinated, please email me and give me advice. I have tried countless methods, anything from the two minute rule to the pomodoro timer. Nothing has worked. Now if you’re a freshman or sophomore, you might be able to get away with procrastinating everything. I certainly did. But eventually, the work is going to get harder to the point where you cannot study for a test the night before or write an essay an hour before. It may not be in high school, or even college, but eventually procrastination will not fly. High school is a time for making mistakes with enough cushion to bounce back. If you struggle with procrastination, or any bad habit, I would attempt to fix it sooner rather than later. Start implementing change now… or whenever you get around to it.
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