For those who went to a high school away from home, I hope you can attest that high school is a crucial period in one’s development. It’s that time when you feel more freedom to do what you want with less parental supervision. You also meet people of diverse backgrounds that influence and challenge life as you used to know it back home. This is one period when you learn so many new things, gain multiple new experiences and most importantly, get to start the journey of defining yourself. It is an anxious period to both parents and teenagers because things like academic performance, extra-curricular activities and social factors such as peer influence go a long way in to defining who you’ll become in the future.

As a tribute to this critical period that influences how one’s life success will unfold, today’s article is a reflection of how some high school ideologies influenced me to who I am today – particularly our high school motto.

Our high school motto was very simple:

Like a tree knowledge grows

My high school motto

I can relate this motto to one of the key messages in the book ‘The Science of Getting Rich‘ by D Wattles. Wattles says that a seed seeks to fall in to the soil, grow, produce more seeds that will fall, grow and produce more seeds that will fall, grow and produce more seeds that will fall…

As simple as they may sound, this is a very important message when it comes to growth and progress because the growth of a tree takes time, and a good tree produces fruit that will also become of value in due time.

This simple motto often reminds me to be patient in my personal as well as professional growth and development. It also challenges me to always produce value for the people and places that I encounter.

How did your high school influence you?