As a senior, what I feel most when thinking about my time in high school is regret. I’m going to hold these years not with admiration or love, but just as a time in my life where I could have done things differently. With this, I want to avoid others feeling the same way I did, so here is what I learned the hard way.

10. Floating Around Gets You Nowhere

Find what you like as a freshman, and stick with it, for the love of everything. Don’t mix and match extracurricular activities. Nobody will get to know you. I did this, and when it came to being elected as an officer for clubs, I had no shot compared to those who were well known in their respective groups. Unless you want to be invisible, do not do this.

9. Just Do a Sport

As someone who didn’t do a sport, I learned that sports get you leagues ahead. Joining a sport looks good on college applications, gives you a reputation and is the quickest way to get a letterman. I did powerlifting for a season as a sophomore, and that’s it. If I did drill team or even something like tennis or golf, I feel like I could’ve gotten more money from colleges, definitely would’ve gotten a letterman and would definitely have more friends.

8. Get Rid of the “I’m An Honor’s Student, It Will Be Easy” Mentality 

I’ve been an honors student my whole life, and coming from small private schools, I didn’t have to try hard. I had more one-on-one time with teachers and we didn’t learn things as fast. I unfortunately entered high school with this mentality and kept it for two years. Those two years, because I didn’t really study, I got B’s for the first time in my life. If I had gotten off my phone and studied, my rank could’ve been much higher; I could’ve probably been in the top 20, but I wasted my potential. You ought to take your assignments, quizzes and tests seriously. Actually sit down and study for them, create a studying schedule.

7. Coming From Out of District Will Be Harder

My freshman year was my first year in MISD. With that, making friends and finding a tribe was extremely difficult for me. If I were in MISD my whole life, like the majority of people, I would have definitely had a firmer foundation to make friends. Instead, I’ve floated around for my entire high school career, which feels terrible. My best advice: find a group of friends early on, and put as much effort as you can into that friend group. Yes, as a freshman, you will have falling outs, but in the end, keeping a small group of close friends causes less pain than knowing a large number of people, but only being acquaintances.

6. Care About the Clubs

If you join a club, make that club a priority. I joined most clubs because they looked good on college applications, but I never put anything into or made an impact in those clubs. For most colleges nowadays, only being in a club isn’t enough. They want to see leadership and awards. By the time I learned this, I couldn’t make an impact in the different clubs I joined. 

5. Go. To. Tutoring.

Just go. You probably don’t have much to do after school anyway. If you’re struggling in a class, tutoring will help you understand the actual material. Teachers have hundreds of students to work with, and you’ll actually hold their attention with fewer students there. I went to tutoring some, but I feel like if I took advantage of it, again, I would receive better grades, better GPA and a better rank. All of that would have opened more doors for me.

4. Planning is Key

I love planning, but I know it’s not for everyone. However, you can’t “go with the flow” in high school. Planning your days and weeks out will make high school much easier. Not planning cost me my job, seriously. I didn’t know how to manage my time, so my sleep schedule went out the window. I ultimately picked my sleep over my job. And if I planned, I could’ve kept both. You need to plan sleep, if you work, school and even time for homework. Plan it all. Trust me, it helps. 

3. Mental Health Matters

I’ve had struggles with my mental health since I was seven years old. But I beg whoever is reading this. Talk to someone. Seriously, especially your parents. If not your parents, go to a friend, a counselor, a teacher, or even ChatGPT. Bottling it up makes everything worse. I’ve had close calls with almost going to the mental hospital, and not talking will make you self-destruct and harm everyone around you.

2. Take People’s Advice

This goes hand in hand with the last entry. If someone gives you advice on how to improve, do it. Don’t brush it off. For me, it was a feedback loop of self-destruction, all because I never took people’s advice. If someone means it from the heart, listen to them.

1. Throw Motivation Away

Motivation does not matter. If you need to do something, do it. What matters is discipline. I threw out so many opportunities because I did not feel “motivated” instead of doing what I needed to do. And doing a task makes you feel better once you do it. Learn how to be disciplined. That is the most important thing you can do in high school, I mean it.