The holiday vacation ended and most schools started today. Let’s take this opportunity to ponder about what Paul Graham had written for high school students.
Graham, a well-known and respected venture capitalist, programmer, essayist and author, wrote an essay/speech for high school students back in 2005: “What You’ll Wish You’d Known.” While I do not agree with everything that he says in the long essay, I do like the following passages:
Most people like to be good at what they do. In the so-called real world this need is a powerful force. But high school students rarely benefit from it, because they’re given a fake thing to do. When I was in high school, I let myself believe that my job was to be a high school student. And so I let my need to be good at what I did be satisfied by merely doing well in school.
If I had to go through high school again, I’d treat it like a day job. I don’t mean that I’d slack in school. Working at something as a day job doesn’t mean doing it badly. It means not being defined by it. I mean I wouldn’t think of myself as a high school student, just as a musician with a day job as a waiter doesn’t think of himself as a waiter. And when I wasn’t working at my day job I’d start trying to do real work.
Student entrepreneurs who are in high school should take his advice and treat high school like a day job and avoid being defined by it. While passionate student entrepreneurs are already doing that, it’s helpful to read something like this and take a moment to reflect.
Read the rest of Graham’s essay for high school students here:
What You’ll Wish You’d Known.
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