or Why School Was Not A Waste of Time
I used to resent my mum for not teaching me about what I considered ‘adult stuff’ like how to fill in a cheque or how to buy insurance.
However, I’ve come to realise (with a few explanations from mum) that I have picked up and am still picking up many life skills that are just as important for adulthood.
Don’t get me wrong, knowing bank stuff and understanding interest rates, investments, etc are important but you can pick up a lot of skills at home and at school without noticing.
Planning and Preparing Well
After burning the rice again, mum gave me some advice that I thought was really valuable and worth sharing.
If you know somewhere in the back of your mind that something might go wrong, do everything reasonable to prevent it. Even if there’s a 1% chance of something going wrong, put 100% effort into making sure it doesn’t happen. In my case of burning the rice, set a timer, leave my distracting phone upstairs or do something like exercise that doesn’t take attention away from cooking.
Prepare in Good Time
I make sure to pack my bags the night before and organise my time so that my priorities wouldn’t clash – if they did, I made sure to let people know in plenty of time.
This principle applies to practical things too – if something’s in your way, move it before you start. Gather your resources before you head off. Don’t dive in and do something if there are obstacles you can clear before, or if you’re not as prepared as you can be.
Sometimes, however, you can only be so prepared before you’re just procrastinating doing something. Follow your gut, and just go for it!
Thorough and Thought-through
Make sure you have a Plan B.
Run it past trusted others so you get another perspective on it. This helps spot problems early and quickly.
Respecting Others
Treat others the way THEY would like to be treated.
Be Generous to Others
We know that we are privileged and that is why charity is important – to help those less fortunate. As well as giving our money, effort and time, however, there is another form of charity that we all need to give and receive from time to time.
This is emotional charity.
We need to be willing to forgive others, especially our close ones, for hurting us. Be generous in your interpretation of their actions – if they shout, it could be because they’re scared rather than irritated. If they say something mean, it could be their insecurities showing.
Being generous in interpretation is one way of helping others. Being curious is another. Being curious is the opposite of being judgemental – you’re genuinely interested in finding out more about the other person.
Practice these two principles and your relationships will really benefit.
Teamwork
(Sadly) a lot of life requires working with others. There are three different ways you could go about doing this (according to Sean Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
- Compromise
- Cooperation
- Synergy
Compromise is where you try to do something that none of you totally believe in, so you do things half-heartedly because you each gave something up so the team can work together. Essentially, 1+1=1.5. That is what happened all the time in my middle school projects, where I would be the one doing all the work and certain others would just write our names in the corner of the poster.
Cooperation is where you work together but don’t make the most of each other’s strengths or cover each others’ weaknesses. This is where 1+1=2.
Synergy, a really awful buzzword but sums it up nicely, is where you work together and make the most of each other’s strengths and build upon each other’s work. This requires a lot of trust and commitment but can produce far better results than each of you working individually. This is 1+1=3!
Formal Situations
From writing emails and letters, and doing presentations, you should know how to conduct yourself in a more formal situation, for example in a workplace.
Schools should teach this, but unfortunately, a lot of us still come out with no idea what a ‘business casual’ dress code means…
Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously
A good self-depreciating joke will get you places.
You have to find a balance between egotism and low self-esteem – the ideal place to be is where you have bags of confidence but you’re willing (and able) to take the mickey out of yourself once in a while.
At least, this quality was one that I noticed in all the people I liked to hang out with and all the people I aspired to be.
Hard Work
We know that hard work will take you where you want to go, whether or not we actually put any in at school…
Conclusion
Even though we might not remember Ohm’s law or Euler’s formula, our school years gave us all of these skills that cannot be taken away from us.
They weren’t a waste after all!
Daring To Jess 
I love this! I totally agree with a lot of the points too; I don’t necessarily think the CURRICULUM taught us much about the adult world, but the life lessons going through school teaches us does xx
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Thank you! Yes exactly you’ve summarised my beliefs so concisely 🙂 what is one life lesson you picked up at school?
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Do. not. partake. in. gossip. x
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Timeless advice x
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What others say about me is none of my business.
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Absolutely – everyone is entitled to their own opinions but some are more worth listening to than others xD
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For sure. Hope everything is going well for you. Opinions are often neither right nor wrong, either. They are simply opinions. Of course yours tend to be pretty well thought out and explained ☺😇
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Haha thank you! I completely agree, if people could take their opinions a little less seriously the world would be a better place 🙂
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Hopefully all is well where you are. Damn hot here
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Certainly is 🙂 enjoy the heat, it’s freezing here!
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Good luck for December. Have had contact with friends in Bristol recently. Caught up with where my friends from over there are at.
Will get hot here again soon. Media built up a massive storm that never happened last weekend. Business suffered everywhere on Saturday because most people can’t look out the window and get some idea for themselves
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Ahah that is very funny, we’ve been warned about a storm as well but seems like it’s actually going to hit us!
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Weather fine again today. 3rd test against you guys starts soon. We have won the first 2. Pitch conditions don’t seem to have been great. Australia will most likely take back the ashes unless you guy produce something of note. I am more interested in one of our veteran soccer players looking like returning to the UK to play for Millwall where his career started in the 90’s.
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No time spent, in an environment which demands focus and discipline, is ever wasted. This is as true of running a household as of earning an academic degree.
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I completely agree – it’s all about sharpening the mind as well as acquiring skills that will help you in the future 🙂
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love your post! it was a great reminder that life skills are way more important than they seem to be!
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Thank you! Yes it’s important to remember the real reason why you are doing the tough things…
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Keep those family recipes. Ask your grandparents while they’re still alive to write your favorites. These are family treasures. Our families can disappear so quietly and simply if we forget our elders
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Yes that is so true – it’s very scary how quickly people can be gone. Thanks for the advice 🙂
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Ha the number of times I complained about the likelihood of implementing certain school subjects in the future. I think it’s discipline more than anything, that transforms you into an adult. Really great piece – got me reflecting.
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Yes I definitely was one of those people who just didn’t get why we learnt so many ‘useless’ things in school – but I’m glad that we recognise that discipline is the essential part of growing up!
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I’m still in school, and while I was reading this post I remembered some of my lesson. I guess now that I think about it, the teachers teach us a certain way for a reason. This really helped me put things into perspective.
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I’m glad my post helped! Yes there’s a lot that is frustrating and difficult about school but in the end we come out better for it (I hope…!)
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Plutocrats by Christia Freeman.
I think that’s it. Sorry to take my sweet time on it.
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No problem, I look forward to reading it!
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Watching Carnivale right now. Will try to see Star Wars asap. It comes out Thursday.
In regards to my own writing I have been whittling off people in my day to day who add nothing as I have gone into the writing stage following a substantive research and collation process.
Pay a visit to the Eagle and Child for me 😇🐺
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Got a bit of Vedic stuff to read and meditate on.
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