What is it like to be at the top? (1 Viewer)

[BlugyBlug]

Alright then brahs, we studied hard and got high marks, whats next? According to 99% of people my goals should be:

- Get into a good Uni, preferably to USYD or UNSW (for some bullshit prestige that no one ends up giving a fuck about)
- Become and office slave for some corporation (that makes millions off me and pays only a fraction of that as my wage)
- Buy a big house by taking out an 800,000 dollar loan (so i can become a bank monkey for 25 years of my life stressing out monthly on whether i can make the repayment)
- Get married and have some kids ASAP (to make sure i waste my youth)
- Die

And to 99% of people that's a life well lived. Fuck that.

+1. http://i.imgur.com/RPwm2.jpg

 

[JT145]

I peaked in Kindergarten

idk

 

[Jimmy2064]

I agree, however I take a psychologically different stance to you. I have an inherent desire, or more like obsession, to prove myself to others, and take no satisfaction in my knowledge unless others know about it. That is just a trait ive been born with, do not criticise me for it, it is something deeply rooted in my subconsciousness, the desire to compete and prove my worth, rather than be satisfied with profound knowledge which is isolated in my own little world.

You're not alone lol, I'm the same, just not academically because I always found it impeccably boring. Quite honestly, my attention span lasts 15 minutes studying. I'm supposed to be studying Physics now, not happening. But what you said is basically me in everything else, sports, games, whatever. I'm extremely competitive, and I'm a really sore loser, which probably isn't a good thing lol..

 

[Jimmy2064]

According to 99% of people my goals should be:

- Get into a good Uni, preferably to USYD or UNSW (for some bullshit prestige that no one ends up giving a fuck about)
- Become and office slave for some corporation (that makes millions off me and pays only a fraction of that as my wage)
- Buy a big house by taking out an 800,000 dollar loan (so i can become a bank monkey for 25 years of my life stressing out monthly on whether i can make the repayment)
- Get married and have some kids ASAP (to make sure i waste my youth)
- Die

And to 99% of people that's a life well lived. Fuck that.

Spot on. I like your work. Talent means nothing, excellence is achieved through repetition. Quite honestly though some people would look at your proposed scenario and see that as an ideal life, not for me brah, not for me.

 

[iBibah]

K, maybe I'm just the weird one who gets bored and discouraged without approval of others haha. Ibibah perhaps it can be changed, and you have indeed got a very good understanding of what I wrote, which I wasn't expecting anyone to have, but it really is an integral part of my nature to compare myself to others, I can't just sit there and go ahead in something on my own for very long without feeling the desire to show everyone what I can do.

Seeing as though I lost my desire to do all those things so easily, perhaps I really didnt have a true passion for them. But I definitely did feel an incredible happiness and excitement at my acquisition of that knowledge, as well as very strong enthusiasm, to the point where I was quizzing my teachers on things and then wondering how come they didn't know the answer. Hm.

Well if you were enthusiastic and enjoyed it, then maybe it was a passion, though you gave up too easily.

A great skill to learn is to not do things for others, trying to impress people by finishing maths early or olympiad stuff only takes you so far. What do you get from it? "Oh you did mx2 in year 9, WOOWWW you're so smart" *never see person again* or *end up friends with someone who is using you for something you may have (like 600k a year)*

It might even be better to come across poor and average and see who is left by your side.

 

[Jimmy2064]

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”
- Socrates

this.

 

[Nooblet94]

State-rankers, high achievers, and olympiads: How did you find school?

Your natural talent and passion for a subject converges into curiosity which you wish you satisfy. You begin to explore; your knowledge surpasses the HSC syllabus, dwelling into (low)-level university content. But you don't completely understand it and this crazily irritates you. Ordinary teachers can no longer satisfy what you want to know...

What did you do from here? Did teachers actually play a vital role in your success?

This may be a stupid question... but I am just interested in the lives of such people.

I state ranked 3u maths last year, but I wouldn't really call myself a "high achiever" or anything - there's a lot of smarter people out there, I just got lucky to be honest.

There wasn't a lot of time to go beyond the HSC syllabus, but whenever I did I'd just look stuff up on Wikipedia, Google and Youtube basically. Universities like Stanford and MIT have excellent resources available for free and Khan Academy has great explanations of things like matrices that aren't that difficult, but aren't taught in NSW schools. My teachers definitely played a role in my "success" (as you put it) but a lot of it was hard work and going beyond what they expected.

 

[Nooblet94]

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”
- Socrates

btw did I mention I'm jacked as fuck? #yolo

 

[loversinjapan]

i don't really know if i have the right to post in this thread but being at the top of my internals has meant that i can't ever be openly happy about my achievements or disappointed with underachieving without being an arrogant/insensitive bastard

my school isn't known to be the strongest academically and as someone who does 4 units of english, i really suffered from having the same shit teacher for all four units, but yeah, at some point it's really about going out of your way to be resourceful and diligent if you want to go beyond the limitations of your school environment.

 

[hayabusaboston]

btw did I mention I'm jacked as fuck? #yolo

pics or it didnt happen

 

[Kiraken]

State-rankers, high achievers, and olympiads: How did you find school?

Your natural talent and passion for a subject converges into curiosity which you wish you satisfy. You begin to explore; your knowledge surpasses the HSC syllabus, dwelling into (low)-level university content. But you don't completely understand it and this crazily irritates you. Ordinary teachers can no longer satisfy what you want to know...

What did you do from here? Did teachers actually play a vital role in your success?

This may be a stupid question... but I am just interested in the lives of such people.

I'm certainly not as high-achieving as many people in this thread but just my two cents on this

You'll find that when you get to university most of your learning is independent and fuelled by your own drive to learn. If you're getting into uni content perhaps you should approach it with that attitude without the expectation that some teacher might help you. For guidance you live in an age with the internet that has a plethora of resources but I understand it's best to learn face-to-face, maybe find someone with similar interests or a uni student who does what you are interested and fuel some discussion with them.

Teachers aren't necessarily there to hold your hand the entire way and spoonfeed you but yes I do think they play a vital role in any academic success you have because more often than not they spark that ambition and inspiration in you to find out more. I think many people do possess an intrinsic curiousity and hunger for knowledge but often it is someone like a teacher of a specific subject or a person passionate about their particular field that really kicks that passion into gear

 

[Lina3]

Being "on top" is pretty vague, since there are many ways to achieve. Not sure if I would fit your criteria entirely (certainly not a genius and will never claim to be one) but here is how I handle 'achievement'.

Some have said that they enjoy doing something because it allows them to prove ourselves to others. Maybe only me...but I usually feel uncomfortable when I am praised. I grew up in Russia, and people there are much more blunt. So my whole childhood I heard "you're not good enough and will never be unless you work for it." so I'm much more used to constructive criticism and think its more beneficial, because no matter how good you are at something there is always someone who is better. Always thought compliments were idle and even when I get them I tend to assume people don't actually mean it...I guess I have that complex Passion is, in my opinion, the most important thing because then you are driven to do something not for the praise of others but your own fulfillment in life.

 

[KitchenSinky]

It's amazing. It's like getting gobbies and eating icecream at the same time. I'm talking top quality gobbies/icecream here, not that crappy Streets Vanilla stuff.

 

[Makematics]

As we start to enter the real word bro's don't ask yourself WHAT you wanna be, but instead WHO you wanna be. I talking about figuring out for yourselves what truly makes you HAPPY and doing whatever it takes to achieve that goal.

Lel u taxed that off Arnie

 

[iBibah]

Lel u taxed that off Arnie

hahaha i thought so too

 

[Makematics]

no matter how good you are at something there is always someone who is better.

Thats a terrible attitude to have imo. Technically it is possible to be the best at something. Look at Usain Bolt!

 

[martino1234]

What's it like to be at the top? Pretty good mate.

 

[Candidate]

I'm "at the top" for my school, but I go to a small school with classes ranging between 4-15 people, so it's not that much of an achievement. However, being top means having a reputation for getting everything right and knowing everything, which I know I don't deserve as I am only very human and make just as many mistakes as others. I get this kind of paranoia when I answer something in class that if it's wrong people are gonna make a big deal out of it.
Also I feel like I have to do well, otherwise I let my teachers down. Other than that, teachers having a good impression of you really works in your favour as they tend to be a little biased in your favour.

I've gone through my entire highschool career without having to study or stress, and I worry that these habits are really going to make me fail in university.

This. I'm first in all my HSC subjects and Dux of the school. It kinda sucks though, because I don't care about Dux, I just want my ATAR aim. With all the expectation from peers and teachers of doing really well, I lost a lot of motivation to study like I used to and probably won't get the ATAR my curriculum coordinator predicted earlier, and that's really embarrassing.

 

[anomalousdecay]

K, maybe I'm just the weird one who gets bored and discouraged without approval of others haha. Ibibah perhaps it can be changed, and you have indeed got a very good understanding of what I wrote, which I wasn't expecting anyone to have, but it really is an integral part of my nature to compare myself to others, I can't just sit there and go ahead in something on my own for very long without feeling the desire to show everyone what I can do.

Seeing as though I lost my desire to do all those things so easily, perhaps I really didnt have a true passion for them. But I definitely did feel an incredible happiness and excitement at my acquisition of that knowledge, as well as very strong enthusiasm, to the point where I was quizzing my teachers on things and then wondering how come they didn't know the answer. Hm.

Listen to Seaniegs words on that you have to immerse yourself between others to develop. I was at some stage the same as you hayabusaboston around a year ago, thinking that I could simply state rank everything because I couldn't see the bigger picture.

I realised that its best to just take things slowly and be happy with my achievements.

When you have so many achievements, you should realise that only 20% of the world's populace has done the same as you.

And although you may not realise, some people have achieved much more than the likes of the world's renowned scientists.
Think about all the engineers who developed the lights around you, the street, the roads, the bridges.
These guys basically have done more than you can imagine, but they are satisfied in their personal achievements simply because they enjoy what they do, not because they have to become famous.
A hollywood actor does not deserve more pay than a mathematician, but politics has come into play, beyond the scope of my suggestions.

So hayabusaboston think of it this way:

Be happy with your achievements in that you enjoyed obtaining them. The blood, sweat and tears of fun work are sweeter than ever.


When you have done your accomplishment, think of this: What is next. What do I want to do out of enjoyment?

After all the achievements you have done, just think "Do you want to improve this life skill or move onto something else?"
"Did you enjoy it?"

After that forget that you ever achieved it and start all over again.

 

[hayabusaboston]

Listen to Seaniegs words on that you have to immerse yourself between others to develop. I was at some stage the same as you hayabusaboston around a year ago, thinking that I could simply state rank everything because I couldn't see the bigger picture.

I realised that its best to just take things slowly and be happy with my achievements.

When you have so many achievements, you should realise that only 20% of the world's populace has done the same as you.

And although you may not realise, some people have achieved much more than the likes of the world's renowned scientists.
Think about all the engineers who developed the lights around you, the street, the roads, the bridges.
These guys basically have done more than you can imagine, but they are satisfied in their personal achievements simply because they enjoy what they do, not because they have to become famous.
A hollywood actor does not deserve more pay than a mathematician, but politics has come into play, beyond the scope of my suggestions.

So hayabusaboston think of it this way:

Be happy with your achievements in that you enjoyed obtaining them. The blood, sweat and tears of fun work are sweeter than ever.


When you have done your accomplishment, think of this: What is next. What do I want to do out of enjoyment?

After all the achievements you have done, just think "Do you want to improve this life skill or move onto something else?"
"Did you enjoy it?"

After that forget that you ever achieved it and start all over again.

Number 1 question I ask myself these days, if I actually enjoyed all those things I did. I gave up so easily. -_-

And now, what IS next. I wonder.


Last night had massive family discussion initiated by brother, and then whole family was saying "YEA ALEX SHOULD BECOME A RESEARCH SCIENTIST!!!" and im like lolno, no money in that.

And yet parents believe its the only thing I'd be happy doing.