The Most Valuable Lesson I Learned in High School by Jeremy

The Most Valuable Lesson I Learned in High School by Jeremy - November 2013 Scholarship Essay

I suppose the most valuable lesson I learned in high school would be that it's important to have priorities. I didn't have priorities before high school. I did what I felt like doing, when I felt like doing it. But in high school I couldn't do that; I kept leaving my homework by the side and browsing the internet for far too long. I had to learn to prioritize what I wanted to do, and when I could do it.

My homework is a perfect example of this. I can't simply do what I want; I have to find a balance between all work and all play. All play, and I wind up accomplishing nothing. I don't want that; I want to be remembered, to be great; I can't do that if I don't do anything of substance. At the same time, I can't be working all the time; the quality of my work will suffer greatly. So I have to find a balance, and prioritize what I want. I now work and play for reasonable amounts of time, and surprisingly enough get my work done according to my standards of quality.

And this lesson doesn't just have to do with homework. A lot of things in life have to be prioritized. If someone wrongs me, should I follow the immediate impulse to attack them? Or should I consider where revenge fits in on my priorities? Surprisingly enough, when I stopped dealing with these things according to my knee-jerk reactions, and started considering what my priorities were, I found that getting revenge was a lower priority than, say, not getting in trouble or having friends. In effect, I have more important things to do.

Or suppose that I have multiple events I want to go to at the same time. Do I go to a party, or a club meeting, or help out at the local library? Or do I stay home and work on homework? Because I prioritize these events, I can say, I will go to this one, and apologize later for not attending the other two. I don't have to fret over which of them I want to go to, because I can look at them objectively, see how much I want to go to them, and just make a decision, based on that. Because I have formed this habit, I don't have to worry, and can therefore enjoy myself.

It's important to have priorities. Because I have priorities, I can live my life the way I want to, and achieve what I want to achieve. I see other people who don't prioritize, and they're always worried about work they have to do, mistakes they might make, and that sort of thing. Unlike them, I am satisfied with my life. What better proof of the need for priorities can there be?