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I can remember when the end of high
school was approaching. It was a nerve-racking time. While most of my
friends were on the high school straight to college road, I was
taking a slightly different approach. I wanted to save up a little
money for college, (and have a clue what I wanted to study) before
going. That left me leaving high school for a full time job. I was a
little worried but it didn't take me long after graduation to realize
exactly how awesome it was.
1. Monopoly On You
If you wanted to, could you quit your
high school and go to another high school down the street? It's
probably not that simple. You'd have to beg and plead your way in and
out. You have virtually no choice which high school you end up going
to. That leaves you in a precarious position.
Have you ever heard about the dangers
of a monopoly? When the consumers don't have any choice but to buy
from one company, the company doesn't have to try and please its
customers. That's exactly the situation you're in with high school.
High schools don't have to care whether you like them or not.
Virtually everything else in life does.
If you go to college, you can always
change colleges. If you get a job, you can always change jobs. If you
travel to Puerto Rico and sleep in hostels, you can always find a new
hostel (or new country.) That's the nature of most of the rest of
your life. For the most part, your schedule is up to you. Sure, that
comes with consequences but if you're a regular reader to this blog
then I'm confident you'll handle them fine.
2. Your Priorities
Ever try to get out of a required
course you didn't want to take in high school? I remember begging and
pleading to not have to take an art course in high school. I was
virtually begging, “I do not care about drawing ponies. I just want
to take a science class.” They responded without a thought, “Well,
we'd like you to be well-rounded.” ARGGGGHH!! It drives me nuts to
this day. (For the record I drew awesome ponies before the class and
the class didn't improve them much.)
Guess what? You never have to seriously
worry about that again. Sure, in college you may have one or two
classes you don't like but 90% of your schedule is up to you. If you
want to be a mechanic then you can get courses on that. If you want
to be a doctor then you can take courses on that. College mostly
caters to your request.
If you don't go to college then you can
go even more crazy. I remember spending months after high school
studying online marketing. No, I didn't take a balanced course load
of business classes. I just buried myself in that subject. Studying
is amazing when you get to do it with subjects you love.
3. Your Pace
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Forget about doing what your teachers
and parents want when they want. Sure, colleges have some schedules
but most of your life is going to come down to your own choices.
Don't want to do laundry? Screw laundry. You may stink the next day
(because seriously, ewww, do laundry when you need to) but that's
your damn choice.
In college, some of the best options
are lining up your classes in a way that interest you. Do you hate
how hard it is to keep up with high school courses? Then take fewer
classes each semester. Do you hate how easy courses are? Then load
ten classes on your schedule and don't sleep for months on end.
That's your choice.
4. Boatloads O' Money
This isn't true for everyone but know
that it's possible.
If you get a cheap apartment far
outside of a city, you don't have any real commitments (like kids,)
and you have your first full time job then you're not going to know
what to do with all the money you have. Minimum wage pays you a lot
when your young and not stuck with old people problems.
Sure, you may be eating cheap or
leaving in a dingy little apartment but your money can go to whatever
crazy things you want (college perhaps?) Compared to working part
time for ten hours a week, you're going to notice the difference.
5. Less Parental Pestering
After high school graduation is the
first time in your life you're without legitimate authority figures
(assuming you're over 18.) If you want to move out then you're
legally allowed to do it. More importantly, you don't have hours of
school a day getting in the way.
Students that go to college may even
get to move hundreds of miles away from their parents.
Now, parents are great (sometimes.)
There is a very real chance you're going to miss them when your gone
but everything changes when you get to see yourself as the authority
figure over your life. After leaving your parents for the first time,
it's going to be that much better when you see them again anyway.
6. Real Friendships
High school students... you're going to
be losing a whole lot of friends. Sure, you might keep up on Facebook
but it won't be anywhere close to the same. Eventually, you'll
virtually never talk to most of the friends you had from high school.
Why is that?
There are proximity friends and there
are real friends. Just because you sat next to someone in biology
class and shared a few jokes, it doesn't mean you'd be wonderful
friends outside of that forced environment. Once you get out of
school, at least one of you, isn't going to value the friendship
quite as much. Some friendships can last but being in the same room
as someone regularly is not necessarily a real one.
7. Sleep Late
Don't you hate waking up on time for
high school. I remember some of my most productive times were late at
night but I'd have to force myself into bed anyway to try and barely
wake up in time for school.
In life, you get to choose what
schedule you want to follow.
8. Stupid Mistakes
Some of the best parts of leaving high
school are the most embarrassing in hindsight.
You are going to screw up really bad a
few times after high school. That's actually really awesome. When you
do screw up, you get to see the way the real world deals with it. You
might get an F for screwing up in a course but in life, you usually
won't face a grade.
That grade is something you'll have to
give yourself. If you screw up at work then someone might not even
tell you. You might have to watch someone else correcting your
mistake to learn something. You have to be the one looking to grade
yourself because, while you may not be facing grades, you are facing
the consequences of your mistakes. You can't keep a job when you're
screwing things up. Often, you'll be the only good judge of that.
While it's scary, it completely changes
the way you look at your own life.
9. No (few) Commitments
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Most people are never going to be as
free as they are graduating high school.
Most high school graduates have
choices. You can go to college. You can travel the world. You can get
a job. You can sleep on a park bench. Life isn't quite so simple
later in life.
When you graduate college, you're
probably going to be buried in debt. More importantly, it's hard to
get a job after college when you don't go straight to work after
graduating.
After a little while, you're probably
going to have a long term relationship, and maybe even children to
worry about.
When you retire, you probably still
have family concerns. Maybe you're lucky enough to have your kids out
of the house and comfortable but there are other problems. You'll be
old. You're going to be more tired. You're going to be more sore.
Odds are, you're not going to be particularly motivated to do the
crazy things you wanted to do as a kid. Heck, most people end up
living on a hot dog for dinner budget when they retire anyway. You
won't be able to afford those fun things. You will have a house, a
dog, and a retirement to support.
10. The Wait Is Over
Waiting for the last days of high
school to end can be mind-numbing. It can feel miserable. It's an
unbelievably scary time. Sure, you can do relaxation exercises or
something but you're not going to be able to make it go away
completely.
Once that wait is over, you're going to
appreciate it.
11. Self-Directed Education
Unlike in high school, you're going to
be able to define what education is important to you.
Do you want to go to a formal learning
institution like college?
Awesome. Look around the world and find
the perfect one. Then find your perfect major. Have fun.
Do you want to learn from hundreds of
library books?
Sweet. That's my kind of learning. Get
started. Maybe get a job to pay some bills and learn away.
The best part about this is that you're
in control. If you're not learning what you want to learn, you can
change what you're learning. When you realize that, your brain
suddenly gets much better at actually learning. You'll get in the
habit of focusing much more effectively because you'll know you're
only focusing on subjects that actually matter to you.
I know learning doesn't sound like the
most fun you can have after high school but once you realize the
power you have, it will be.
Do you want to know how to study in
less than 15 minutes a night? That's what this blog is all about.
Find out the secrets by following this blog and maybe even getting
one of the ebooks.
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