Hey everyone, I’m a junior who recently bought this acclaimed book. Unfortunately, as I began reading it, most of what I’m currently doing in high school seems to go against what he’s advising.
Currently I have 4 AP classes, I’m editor of Key Club, historian of United Nations Club, and I’m in NHS and HOSA. Is it too late to apply his high school philosophy? I’m not overly crazy about getting into an Ivy League school, but it’s fun to entertain the idea.
You can apply his philosophy throughout your life – certainly through high school and college. Basically, it’s about getting involved in something that interests you to the point that you become an insider, where you can then see opportunities to jump in and make a contribution. What’s stopping you?
The activities you described are not too time-consuming so you should still have time on the side to pursue an interest in more depth. It’s about going above and beyond defined roles. You could do this by building on a current activity if you like. For example, as historian of the UN Club, are there creative ways to approach this role, such as making a documentary film, or are their bigger histories to pursue writing about for the UN on a larger scale? If that’s not your thing, consider what is, and go for it.
@mommyrocks I guess what’s stopping me is that the activities I do leave me with little free time. I know it may seem otherwise, but my AP classes give tons of work, and my side activities, ESPECIALLY HOSA, take up lots of time. On top of this, I’m trying really hard to get a high SAT score as well. I know it just seems like I’m complaining and making excuses, but I’m not sure where to go from here. It seems like I must drop some of the stuff I’m doing in high school to actually live out Newport’s philosophy, and that scares me because it may not turn out to be a safe option.
You have a full year, including next summer to put some of his ideas into practice. I agree, though, that 9th or 10th grade is better timing for this book. Part of his point is that taking the “safe” option (doing what everyone else is doing) makes you one of the crowd, not someone who stands out. I agree that taking something you are already doing and finding a creative way to dig deeper into that is probably your best approach if you want to try to implement his strategy now.