Day 265 of writing every day.
The key to success is something many presenters, business people, celebrities, etc. like to talk about. While there’s quite a bit of luck involved on top of persistence, another critical factor for most is planning. I hardly consider myself a planner. Thinking on this topic, I recall the first time I was actually given a planner to keep track of things was back in middle school. After all, staying on top of what pages are assigned as homework and when it’s due along with other assignments and projects was key to succeeding academically.
Giving every student a planner in middle school where I went was part of the changing approach to education as students get older and are expected to manage more responsibilities on their own without a teacher constantly reminding them of their schedule and what they’re supposed to do every day and every hour. There were starting to be some variations such as electives where students weren’t all together but went to different classrooms for electives they decided to take.
Those that didn’t plan on their own started to struggle more, I think, and in that respect I think it might have been better in retrospect for teachers to spend some time or for schools to better assist students who weren’t adjusting to the sudden changes from elementary to middle school, especially if it’s a k-8 school where the change in environment was basically going to school in another section of the building for middle schoolers.
I did fine in middle school and high school where the whole day was basically preplanned despite the whole idea of needing to keep notes. My memory was pretty good too I’d say and I kept track of a lot of things in my head but still put them on paper since there were planner checks by teachers to make sure students were making use of them as part of their learning if I remember correctly.
As an adult though I feel like I’ve done a lot less planning. The transition from the rigid schedule of high school to college alone was something I don’t think I got right in retrospect. I managed to get my act together after two years of college, but then the transition from full-time student to working full-time wasn’t handled well either.
My goal of finding work in Japan was just that. I had no plans for a career after graduating college besides just moving to another country I found myself infatuated with after studying abroad. Now I’m more than ten years into my life in Japan still trying to figure out what I’m going to do for a career. So time to spend actual time planning things out going forward instead of complaining.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 