Know thyself

In academics, much like in life, it is crucial that one learns what it is they’re good at. You don’t want to spend your entire life banging your head against the wall, so to speak. At the end of the day, work for most of the population is just work. Even for people who love their jobs, you still don’t want to get stuck or bogged down on the mundane aspects of it. Thus, it pays to be good at what you do and to enjoy it. The latter is more of a bonus and typically comes with the former.

Yet, to learn what it is you’re good at, sometimes, you have to understand what you’re not so good at. Thus, your youth should be a time of exploration and trial-and-error where you sample skills that you are interested in before you ultimately make a strong commitment. When you are young, it is critical that you put in the time because, without that effort, you and the people around you will not be able to ascertain what your strengths and weaknesses are and, thus, you will likely become trapped in a mediocre state of being (It takes effort to build a model).