Here are some things school doesn’t teach you that you need to know in life. School education is very important for our future, but it doesn’t teach us everything. Some things that we will need to know are complex like taxes but others are simple like sewing. All the things that I will mention will be useful in the future and are worth knowing. Obviously, there are many more that I will mention but we can’t learn everything at the same time! I don’t know all of these YET but with time and help from others I will learn. So, if I can so can you! It’s never too late, remember that. You might think that you have ages until you are 18, living on your own, in a different country… but time flies; so, it’s better to start now.
How to file taxes?
Taxes are very confusing when you don’t know anything about them, which is my case. I’m probably not the best person to explain them, so I’m going to give you some links you can look at. Be aware the taxes vary in different countries.
How to vote?
I’m an IB student so I have never voted in my life obviously and I am not into politics so I don’t have the answer for this. Sorry! What you can do is ask your parents how they do it, why they vote for that person. Watch the news and inform yourself before you vote.
How to be productive?
This is very important as you need to balance school, social and personal life every day. You can’t afford to get distracted while doing homework because time is precious in life. Is the most valuable thing we get, with time we can achieve anything we set our minds to! To be productive you have to learn to manage your time. Being productive is a habit and it won’t happen from the night to the morning. You can start by focusing on the most important tasks first. Keep distractions away from you. Don’t multitask, do one task at a time; it better to do one tasks well than five, badly. Take regular breaks, go for a short walk, drink water… Reward yourself after a productive day but don’t let the reward be an unproductive day!
How to stop procrastination?
I personally find it quite hard sometimes, and it takes a lot of time to completely stop procrastinating. It requires a lot of willpower and you can achieve this with practice. My biggest tip for you is use the five minutes rule. Think “I will do the task for five minutes”. Then do it and most of the times you will continue for than five minutes because you are concentrated on the task. I recommend you try this. Another tip I can give you is do the work the day it is set to avoid leaving it to the last minute. In my opinion this is hard, it requires organization but it is a habit worth building.
How to cook?
I don’t have the answer for this either as I only know how to cook pasta and rice at the age of 17. I know, I am a disaster! But I do wish I learnt how to cook more things earlier because I’m going to have to learn a lot before going to university. I suggest you start by helping your parents cook dinner and you can follow YouTube videos if you wish to cook by yourself. We are lucky and we can find any recipe in the internet.
How to resolve conflict?
Conflict is part of life and we can’t avoid it as much as we would want to. Some conflicts are harder to resolve but they still need resolving. There are three possibilities on what you can do when there is a conflict. you change yourself, for example ignore it, accept it or do meditation… ; you change the environment, change your group of friends for example; and talk to the person that you have the conflict with, tell them how you feel. When you do this last option, you have to say it in the first person for example, “I felt like you were making fun of me and what you said hurt me. I felt disrespected and inferior” Avoid insulting or blaming the other person, for example “you think you are better than the rest and you can do whatever you want to whoever you want, well you are stupid for thinking that”. If you use the second person, the person is more likely to feel attacked and to defend themselves they will insult you back. This is not the aim, what we want is for the other person empathize with you, understand how you feel and realize that they shouldn’t do it again. Talking it through this way allows a meaningful conversation to take place. You might even find out that you hurt them without realizing, if this is the case you need to listen to them and try to not do it again. Sometimes conflicts occur out of assumptions and rumors, when this happens talk to the other person instead of assuming or believing something that might not be true.
How to love yourself?
This is something that a lot of people struggle with. Self-love is very important, you need to learn to believe in yourself, believe your worth, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Ignore other people's hate, they are just trying to fill better about themselves and their insecurities. Although avoid saying negative comments about other people or judging other, instead say positive things. It will make you feel better as you can easily make someone's day, say positive things about yourself too and stay positive about life. Be kind to yourself, look after yourself, dedicate some time for you doing something you love or something to relax. Avoid comparing yourself to others, I know easier said than done but really try it. Especially to what you see in social media as sometimes images aren't realistic. Don't change who you are for anyone, if they can't accept you for who you are then they are not worth your time. You have to accept your flaws, no one is perfect yet everyone is perfect in their own way. We are all unique! For more information about this, go to this website.
I know I mentioned sewing at the beginning but it's not something I can teach through a blog but it is important to know how to do it. I recommend carrying a sewing kit with you everywhere because you never know what is going to happen. I have used it a lot of times in school (mostly for my friends). You can practice on a cloth and then undo it and try again.
One last thing! An introduction to first aid is worth knowing because you don't know what is going to happen in the future. It always good to help those in need.
Thank you for reading! Good luck doing these things! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
I agree, it is imorportant to know how to cook. Talk to your parents, your grandmother for survival skills in the kitchen! It will be very handy when you will be a tertiary student and beyond! We certainly teach values and principles which we hope will be the base for an ethical way to make a choice when it comes to choose a politician!
This is a really comprehensive, and useful blog. it gives away good advice on how to manage yourself well when living alone :) :)
Hey I enjoyed reading this and some very sensible tips and advice, for us all! Going to university and being forced to cook is the best way to learn.