To many, high school can be a time to goof off and fully embrace your teenage years. However, coming from someone who both slacked and worked hard, I’m telling you right now it is not the time to slack off. It is not the time to party until the sun rises, make poor decisions and not care about your future. While many say that high school doesn’t impact your future, I’m telling you first hand that it does.
We have all heard crazy stories from our parents or fun aunts and uncles about them growing up in the ’80s and ’90s. However, that was a different time. There was no social media, so life was just more free. There wasn’t the same pressure that there is today to be successful and set yourself up for a good future.
I can understand why some people have the mindset to make careless decisions and choose not to work hard. Yes, you can still be successful if you don’t get good grades in high school. You can still be successful if you don’t go to the best university. However, wouldn’t you want to set yourself up in the best way you can? Why push off hard work for later when you can get a head start in life now?
There’s no denying that in order to be successful you must work hard. I think that instilling those values and habits in high school carries on through the rest of your life, which is why it’s important to take high school more seriously.
I don’t mean just getting good grades and working hard in the classroom. For some people, that’s just not reasonable because school is not their thing. I can totally relate to that; it’s hard to work hard in a class you aren’t interested in. It’s hard to get good grades when you don’t adapt well to the teaching style. It’s hard to want to work hard when you are going through the downs of high school like breakups, friendship problems or insecurities.
I’m not telling you to get straight A’s or your life is over. I’m also not trying to put pressure on you, or instill a toxic mindset that Staples can sometimes foster. I’m telling you to work hard in your field of interest. Whether that be a musical instrument, athletics, theater, a school club, photography or even video editing. Whatever it may be that makes you passionate, dive head first into it. Work hard to explore it and set yourself up for a fulfilling, passionate life. I’m encouraging you to work hard for self-growth.
Coming from experience, there’s nothing that fills your cup up more than working hard at something you love doing. I started rowing my Sophomore year, and it has changed my life in indescribable ways. I am an entirely different person than who I was at the beginning of high school, and it’s all because of the life lessons hard work taught me.
Hard work has changed my mindset, set me up for an amazing future and surrounded me with the best community. These past two years I have worked harder than I could have ever imagined, and I learned a lifetime of lessons.
So what I’m saying is that working hard at something you are passionate about will change your future. Thinking you have more time is the biggest form of self-sabotage because life is shorter than you think. Working hard in your youth will give you a good leg-up to living up to your fullest potential. I am beyond grateful that I chose to work hard in high school because it has positively impacted every aspect of my life.
