Knowledge is the most valuable tool you could have throughout life. And learning is the key source to obtaining it. Therefore I see academic education as an important part of my life. I try to get good grades, I try to keep up with my homework and I try really, really hard not to procrastinate. But what I've realized in the last 12 years of attending school is that school doesn't teach you "the lessons of life". They don't even teach you "how to live". In my previous schools, none of them taught me how to cook, or clean, or pay the bills. I had to figure that all out by myself. But let's get back to "the lessons of life". The wisdom that one obtains only by making mistakes. By learning from them, and applying that knowledge for further obstacles that lie ahead.
I'm not implying that what we learn from school isn't useful, because it is. It's just not the most important thing a person needs in their life. Plus, the way content in school is taught to us is often flawed. A lot of teachers don't teach, they talk. "The best way to learn is to do; the worst way to teach is to talk" (Paul Halmos). I completely agree with that. The best way I learn is to actually solve problems and using my hands. Certain teachers interact with their students very well, and are really, really good at public speaking. Yet, despite the passion a teacher puts in their lectures, how much of what they say, is actually being processed in our beautiful teenage minds? Teens are probably the worst people to teach. We are lazy, we're uninterested and we're just indifferent to what you have to say. So how can you get a high school student to learn? By kicking them from their chairs, pushing them past their limits, and by evoking their curiosity. Because "what we learn with pleasure, we never forget" (Alfred Mercier).
This transitions to next important part of your life, your career. What are you going to do after school? What do you want to be? A very important question with an answer that could either ruin or make your life. I know some people go through many jobs to maybe finally get the job they can put up with. But are they happy with it? Are they happy with what they had to go through to get to the position they're "okay" with? I think the question "what do you want to be?" doesn't have to be answered quickly. But when it is answered, it should be the right one. How? By following this one little big piece of advice: "Make your passion your profession, and work will become a game" (3 idiots).
I intend to turn my passion into my profession, because I actually want to learn something I'm passionate about. And I refuse to lead a boring, unsuccessful life if I don't. If you're curious to what I think success is here's my individual plan for success.
Learning should be fun. Not an obligation. To learn starts and remains with the mind. Do you have the willingness to learn? Do you have the willingness to follow your passion? Do you have the willingness to live?