What You’ll Wish You’d Known

Paul Graham’s essay What You’ll Wish You’d Known offers guidance to high school students on planning their future.

Don’t Rush to Define Your Future

Don’t succumb to pressure to have your life figured out. “Look at the options available now, and choose those that will give you the most promising range of options afterward.”

Explore what interests you rather than locking into early decisions.

Stay Upwind

Using a glider metaphor, Graham suggests maintaining flexibility. Like a glider pilot avoiding downwind positions, keep your options open by pursuing fields that expand rather than limit future possibilities.

“Work on things that interest you and increase your options.”

Seek Hard Problems

Avoid fake work. Real learning involves worry and struggle—”if you’re not worrying that something you’re making will come out badly, then it isn’t hard enough.”

Smart people and challenging problems cluster together. Find and join such communities.

Develop Genuine Curiosity

Rather than pursuing “passion” for mundane tasks, cultivate deep, narrow curiosity about genuine questions. “Curiosity turns work into play” when you’re solving mysteries rather than memorizing information.

Treat High School as a Day Job

Don’t let school define your identity. Focus your real energy on independent projects that genuinely interest you. Start now; there’s “no switch inside you that magically flips when you turn a certain age.”