Responsibility: the ultimate highschool hack for a good life

This is the hack, the cheat-code, the life-tip, that can transform a confused, dull and anxious teenager into a powerful force in the world: responsibility.

Responsibility seems to be key to developing meaning in life, planning long-term goals, and executing the 100x careers that I hope to inspire through Daobloom.

For most students, they have little to none.

I might define responsibility like this: if you were to stop doing your most important tasks every day, how different would the world be?

For most students, the answer is not at all.

Many kids feel lost or meaningless, like their existence doesn't matter much to the world. And with no responsibilities in life, it's no wonder that feel that way. They're 100% right.

This is the list of responsibilities for many students at many ages:

4: do your coloring homework and pick up your toys

10: do your arithmetic homework and clean the bathroom

15: do your English homework and rake up the leaves

Again — if they stopped cleaning and stopped homeworking, would anyone outside the home ever notice or care?

There are exceptions:

• if you're raised on a farm, and stop feeding your horse, it'll die. that's responsibility.

• if your parent is absent or neglectful, and you have to care for your siblings, doing those chores means keeping your loved ones healthy. that's responsibility.

• if you work in a family business, and you don't properly attend to your customers, the business will fail and your family will grow poor. that's responsibility.

So: how do you gain all the advantages of responsibility while sticking to a school-to-career path?

Pick a big, useful goal, and make it your North Star.

Two examples, all of which can apply to Highschool students.

If your goal in life is to Fight Climate Change through Nuclear Power Engineering:

• suddenly, your math scores have meaning: if you don't do well, the Climate will suffer as a result.

• your choice of college becomes more clear: who has the best Nuclear Engineering program?

• your extracurriculars come into focus: Science Olympiad suddenly seems more helpful than bird-watching club (although hey, do both if you can. birds are dope).

If your goal in life is to Fight Poverty in your City:

• the skills you'll need to develop become clearer: communication, fundraising, management. Piccolo studies aren't goal-aligned, and the pressure is suddenly off.

• for as summertime job or internship, you'll go to one of the poverty-alleviation programs in your city

• volunteer activities also come into sharp focus: there's no reason you can't start fighting poverty in your city now, instead of in 10 years. That's responsibility.

If this resonates with you, apply for a free consultation to get you (or your highschool student) headed down the right path.