What is one thing you know now that you wish you knew during/right after high school?

[JoseLuisGotcha]

All the sports outcomes, stock info, and winning powerball numbers




I'd get my Biff on

 

[Flash Thunderton]

I would have wished that I understood the economic climate better and went with my gut rather than what adults told me.
-"Get any degree and you will be successful"
Proven false and even costly. Inner hustle and networking are far more fruitful when you are poor and black.

-"Show up to interviews 15 minutes early"
It took only my first job interview to realize that is a dead concept. You show up 15 minutes early, you often end up waiting 10-20 minutes for the interviewer to be ready anyway. Showing up early rushes someone who likely doesn't want to be rushed, and that will show in their demeanor. Also, it cements that you really want that job and they can bend you over during the interview.

Show up on time, make observations about the surroundings, and know the place before you go. Be personable but not a suck-up. When you don't know people, good conversation goes a long way, sucking up doesn't. Showing up early is a sign that if they tell you to jump,you will do so without having a reason behind it.

-"If you don't get an education and become (insert profession) you will be poor and unhappy."
This is not a direct quote, but this is what adults have hinted towards my whole upbringing. What I didn't know very truly was that when you have a passion behind something, you will make the sacrifices necessary to make that the center of your happiness. Had I understood this, I would have went wih my gut, held off on attending college, and worked till I got enough cash together to go to California and see if it was going to be ground-zero for my venturing into adulthood.

Instead, I have debts, shytty jobs, and am 27 years old with not an interesting tale to tell of my upbringing. I will remember this when I have children, because if they are unhappy with the direction things are going, as young adults, sometimes you have to pull the plug, throw your fears in a suitcase and hit the road. How are you to know who you are or what your purpose is when the only thing you know is the neighborhood you grew up in? Small world views don't breed forward-thinking children.

This one of the best posts I've seen on this site

 

[h2o_proof]

I always say I wish I understood the stock market better back then. You don't take Economics til like your last semester senior year which is stupid. 14-18 year olds with disposable income move the economy like crazy. Had I applied what I knew about seasonal trends and been able to break shyt like Jordan's, Polo's and electronics down to textiles, fabric and semi-conductors, etc....damn

 

[Heafcliffe]

The easy route ain't necessarily the best route. Sacrifice is needed to progress.

 

[Amerikan Melanin]

To join the Air Force

 

[Aizen]

Things I wish I knew more about:

1) CLEP out of all the intro classes and not waste time on some of those stupid electives. While in senior year, CLEP out of Intro to Marketing, Psychology 101, Calculus, etc.

2) Start earning college credit in other ways besides CLEP. Certain people I knew were testing out of classes (CLEP), getting AP/IB credit for other college classes and attending college classes on the side while still in high school. Not only were all the elective and prerequisite classes done, they set it up so they could go straight to the classes needed for their major(s). Meaning several were double and triple majoring the second they entered college because all the extraneous classes were finished. They could get right to the meat of things and finish in 1 or 2 years tops. To my credit, I did some of this stuff. Looking back, I wish I did more of this than I did. Hindsight is 20/20, plus not as many people were talking about it back then as they do now.

3) Seriously consider going to college in another country right out of high school. Instead of doing the semester or year abroad, just fully commit. Many of the colleges I saw overseas were better than the North American colleges by a country mile. So become fully fluent in other languages (not that partial fluent jazz, which is nice but won't earn you a job unless you can speak on par with the natives in those countries), save a ton of money (North American colleges can be very overpriced) and get more life-changing experiences abroad.

 

[GoFlipAPack]

I always say I wish I understood the stock market better back then. You don't take Economics til like your last semester senior year which is stupid. 14-18 year olds with disposable income move the economy like crazy. Had I applied what I knew about seasonal trends and been able to break shyt like Jordan's, Polo's and electronics down to textiles, fabric and semi-conductors, etc....damn

Expound on the bolded breh

 

[Stuntone]

That you might as well be a lawyer or in some other high paying position, because you're going to have work hard regardless if you're working in college or McDonalds.

 

[Stuntone]

Wild the fukk out at every party before everyone has a camera phone.

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

Join the USMC FIRST.​

 

[h2o_proof]

Expound on the bolded breh

Just being able to break a good down into pieces and understand which pieces are commodities. You can break a sneaker down in to 3 or 4 parts, the sole, the body, the tongue and the threading. You find out what shoe moves the most and what component/fabric makes up the largest % of the shoe and then you find out where the shoe company gets their material from and how diverse of a client base said company has, the rest is luck and timing. A laptop, smartphone or whatever can be broken down just like a shoe though unlike a shoe, you're dealing with materials like glass, copper, germanium, silicon and things like that. Basically any good can be broken down.

 

[aaaaaaa]

That being a "cool kid" or being popular was over rated. It's like everyone got a blank slate after graduation, only this time the choices you make going forward hold much more weight.

I disagree. How you were during highschool determines a lot of how you are as an adult. If you were picked on and treated like shyt during your development years that's always gonna be inside you festering. See cops.

If you were the champ in high school, even if you end up being a failure or some middle class nobody that confidence and self esteem is still gonna be with you. Even in a group of middle aged, balding, beer bellied, suburban dads you can tell who was the jock in high school and who was the picked on nerd. Even if the nerd now makes twice what the jock did. That confidence never leaves you.

 

[aaaaaaa]

Also how you were treated and how much love you got as a child determines how happy and fulfilled you are as an adult. You could be a millionaire and own your own business but if mama didn't hug you enough you're gonna be bitter, angry, and tortured. See Eminem. Meanwhile somebody who got loved during their childhood can grow up to be a nobody yet theyr'e living a better life than someone with 10x their net worth. A lot of italian and hispanic dudes are like that. Happy satisfied mamas boys.

 

[Flash Thunderton]

I disagree. How you were during highschool determines a lot of how you are as an adult. If you were picked on and treated like shyt during your development years that's always gonna be inside you festering. See cops.

If you were the champ in high school, even if you end up being a failure or some middle class nobody that confidence and self esteem is still gonna be with you. Even in a group of middle aged, balding, beer bellied, suburban dads you can tell who was the jock in high school and who was the picked on nerd. Even if the nerd now makes twice what the jock did. That confidence never leaves you.

I agree with the bolded but that still depends on how the individual ends up handling it later. Some people do become bad people yeah, but there are those kids who grew up bullied and treated like all around shyt that took a good step to become something and just get motivation from how badly they were treated.