I think I was in Grade 9 when I began to wonder about the logic of school.
“So,” I thought to myself, “I have to get good grades in middle school so I can do well in high school. I have to do well in high school so I can get into a good university. I have to do well in university so I can get into a good grad school. I have to do well in grad school so I can have a good career, and I have to have a good career so I can finally retire and have a good life. Why don’t I just skip all that and have a good life now?”
There was some merit in my Grade 9 logic. I was objecting, I later learned, to what is called “delayed gratification.”
But I was missing something quite important.
The purpose and value of working hard and giving your best effort has nothing to do with the end results, whether they are grades or university admissions or a highly-paid profession. When we work hard and do our best at everything we do, we develop the habit of working hard and doing our best. If we wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen, we do it well. If we have math homework, we do it as well as we can. If we play basketball or practice the guitar, we give our best effort.
Why? Because being someone with such habits is a big part of having a good life. Not sure about that? Imagine someone who always slacks off, who never really tries. Their kitchen is dirty, their math grades are poor, and . . . no one wants them on their basketball team or in their band.
If you focus on doing your best, whatever you are doing, you will build habits that make your own life better, and you will develop attitudes and behaviour that make other people admire you and want to be around you. The rest of it—grades, schools, jobs—will take care of itself, because whatever you choose to do, you will show up on time, do a good job, and be a valued member of the group.
That’s sounds like a good life to me—and you don’t have to wait until you retire to have it!
If you have not read Mark Carney’s “Values,” you would probably find it (intellectually) interesting. There is much in there about how we think about value, and how it also changes through time and between generations.