#76: Lessons from 20 years after high school graduation
Some surprising reflections over a nostalgic weekend
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Hey friends,
Welcome to the 76th edition of the “Level Up Ladder” newsletter.
This edition is a special one as it’s more personal.
I spent last weekend in my hometown of Braila, as on Saturday we had our 20-year reunion since high school graduation.
It was an emotional gathering, being in my old classroom with former colleagues (some of whom I hadn’t seen in 20 years) and some of our teachers too.
It’s both amazing and sad how fast time passes by.
As the class master would call our names, we had to stand and talk a bit about ourselves.
After that, we talked a bit about the future and went to a restaurant for lunch and drinks. And we talked and talked for 6-7 hours, remembering stuff from our past or just talking about families and work.
Seeing my former colleagues and talking to them got me thinking a lot over the next few days. In the next section, I will talk about some lessons I figured out while doing this thinking :)
Coincidentally, I found out a week before that there was a half-marathon organized that weekend, on Sunday. And while initially I thought I will run the full 21KM, after figuring out I will not be in the best shape after the couple of beers at the reunion I decided to run the cross, which was 11KM.
My plan was to run slowly, like a relaxed race. But I felt really good and had a running mate, which motivated me. So I ended up with my fastest 10K time and finished the whole race in less than one hour (at least 10 minutes faster than what I planned at the start).
Overall, it was a very pleasant weekend, and it sort of got me back in time.
10 Lessons after 20 Years since High-school
I hope no-one gets offended by these :)
Train consistently
When you’re reaching 40, your metabolism is not the same as it was 20 years ago. The best-looking people at the reunion were the ones who have been working out constantly these years. At this point in life, it’s a better status symbol than any car or spectacular home.
People can change
While some people are the same as they were 20 years ago, some of them have genuinely changed. For example, I do not think or feel in any way similar to how I did in 2004.
Your high-school performance is not relevant
The most successful people, from a societal perspective, at least, were not the ones who had the best grades in school.
Soft-skills matter
As a continuation of the previous point, skills like persuasion, sales, or communication are better predictors of long-term success. Office politics is just another form of figuring out who the popular kid is and befriending him.
Don’t stress over your college degree
I would say that at least half of the people in the room were currently working in a different field than what they studied in. Don’t take college so seriously.
Friends will be friends
There are people who I haven’t seen in years, and yet, when sitting at the table, we could talk as if we had seen each other the day before. Some connections are for life.
Admit your mistakes and say sorry
When I remember the times in high-school, I can see that I was not the ideal colleague and friend, and maybe I have made people suffer. Admit that you might have wronged people and try to tell them that you regret it.
Let go of the trauma
It was interesting to hear that some people still remember some bad experiences from high school, maybe a bullying colleague, or a teacher who was too aggressive. I still have some “PTSD” regarding this too, but we need to let go and move on.
Be a lifelong learner
The learning doesn’t stop with high school or college. If you want to have a good career or just stay up to date with what’s happening in your field, you need to be learning constantly. Books, courses, post-grad, you name it.
You’re still figuring things out, and that’s ok
Despite the facade of having it all together, most of us still navigate life one day at a time. We’re close to being 40 and should have everything figured out. Well, that’s not the case. Some of us are still looking for a soulmate; some of us don’t know what we are passionate about. Some of us don’t have kids, and some of us think we have too many. Some of us are reflecting about moving to another country, and some of us might be regretting staying in our home town. Everyone is going through the motions.
The good news is we still have a lot of time ahead of us to figure it all out.
The bad news is that we’ll never have it all figured out.
And that’s the beauty of it.
What’s one lesson you learned after finishing high school? Let’s start a conversation.
Recommendations
1/ How Netflix won the streaming wars
An interesting Financial Times analysis of how Netflix managed to turn things around during difficult times.
2/ Win Your Week
JD Meier is one of my favorite creators on LinkedIn, and Satya Nadella's Former Head Innovation Coach.
In this post, he talks about using an Agile Productivity System that can help from leading million-dollar programs to a home renovation project.
3/ Being an engineering manager at Amazon
An interesting article about what it means to have this position in one of the biggest companies in the world.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you’ll join me in the comments section for further discussions!
Leo
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