High School (and even more so College) is a good time to try lots of different things. Don’t pursue one thing obsessively, sample different kinds of activities.
Coding, writing, drawing, exercise, conversation, dating, “going steady,” playing video games, playing irl games, playing sport, build things with your hands, clean every room in your house, cook, pontificate, take standardized tests (PSAT), visit other places—that could be other countries or just a different neighborhood depending on your parents finances, go camping overnight, watch live performances, perform live, eat new things, babysit various ages of kid, have a variety of part-time jobs.
As you build up a wide range of experiences, you will be able to get a sense of what you actually like to do, and can make a life plan from that.
Specifics:
If you want to eventually raise kids, the most important thing you can do now is work on your own mindfulness, and improve your patience. The second thing you need is upper body strength.
Unless you’re in the top 0.1% of something (family wealth, acting ability, writing ability, etc.), having a BS degree will make your career easier. Talk to your financial advisor, but it seems like the best options are:
If you aren’t Asian, and live in the US, but not in New England, and you can get great grades and great test scores (ie perfect ACT / Over 750 on each section of the SAT, plus AP & subject exams with similarly good scores), you can get in to a school with a big endowment (Ivy or Ivy equivalent) and have them pay for it (as long as your parents can afford the “family contribution.”)
If you just have the great grades and test scores, you can get a full academic scholarship to some rando university somewhere
If you live in California or another location that has good community colleges, you can pay for and take classes there while living at home, and transfer to a full college, possibly while still living at home. You can even stop going to High School to do this—if you finish your BS or BA, no-one will care that you didn’t actually get a HS diploma.
If you don’t have parents (or someone else) who can support you financially while you go to college, line up a job first. Big institutional employers often have educational support, and you can get a degree taking one class at a time, and having your employer pay for it (especially if it’s a job-relevant program). Note that this requires you to work an 8-4:30 style job, not at an “unlimited vacation and food” startup where you’re actually working 12 hour days, and 4 on Sunday, with one day off a year to attend your “Grandmother’s Funeral.”
Get a credit card ASAP (or get added to your parent’s account) (one statistic in your credit report is longest open account). Use it and Pay it off every month (% on-time payments is another). Open as many cards as you can, and get the limit raised whenever possible (low % of available credit used is another statistic). Don’t ever buy something unless you already have the money in the bank—the card is just a convenience / source of free points.
High School (and even more so College) is a good time to try lots of different things. Don’t pursue one thing obsessively, sample different kinds of activities.
Coding, writing, drawing, exercise, conversation, dating, “going steady,” playing video games, playing irl games, playing sport, build things with your hands, clean every room in your house, cook, pontificate, take standardized tests (PSAT), visit other places—that could be other countries or just a different neighborhood depending on your parents finances, go camping overnight, watch live performances, perform live, eat new things, babysit various ages of kid, have a variety of part-time jobs.
As you build up a wide range of experiences, you will be able to get a sense of what you actually like to do, and can make a life plan from that.
Specifics:
If you want to eventually raise kids, the most important thing you can do now is work on your own mindfulness, and improve your patience. The second thing you need is upper body strength.
Unless you’re in the top 0.1% of something (family wealth, acting ability, writing ability, etc.), having a BS degree will make your career easier. Talk to your financial advisor, but it seems like the best options are:
If you aren’t Asian, and live in the US, but not in New England, and you can get great grades and great test scores (ie perfect ACT / Over 750 on each section of the SAT, plus AP & subject exams with similarly good scores), you can get in to a school with a big endowment (Ivy or Ivy equivalent) and have them pay for it (as long as your parents can afford the “family contribution.”)
If you just have the great grades and test scores, you can get a full academic scholarship to some rando university somewhere
If you live in California or another location that has good community colleges, you can pay for and take classes there while living at home, and transfer to a full college, possibly while still living at home. You can even stop going to High School to do this—if you finish your BS or BA, no-one will care that you didn’t actually get a HS diploma.
If you don’t have parents (or someone else) who can support you financially while you go to college, line up a job first. Big institutional employers often have educational support, and you can get a degree taking one class at a time, and having your employer pay for it (especially if it’s a job-relevant program). Note that this requires you to work an 8-4:30 style job, not at an “unlimited vacation and food” startup where you’re actually working 12 hour days, and 4 on Sunday, with one day off a year to attend your “Grandmother’s Funeral.”
Get a credit card ASAP (or get added to your parent’s account) (one statistic in your credit report is longest open account). Use it and Pay it off every month (% on-time payments is another). Open as many cards as you can, and get the limit raised whenever possible (low % of available credit used is another statistic). Don’t ever buy something unless you already have the money in the bank—the card is just a convenience / source of free points.