How to graduate the School of Hard Knocks with a 4.0

The School of Hard Knocks has no physical location but it has millions of students and just as many teachers, but most aren’t even humans. There are no books and there are countless tests. It’s the toughest and best education you can get. Sometimes it costs you money, but other times it’s free.

People often find it difficult to graduate with a good grade, let alone a 4.0. However, in this article I will help you gain the best education and graduate the School of Hard Knocks with flying colors.

Recognize your teachers

First, you need to figure out who or what your teachers are. It can be a person, object, or event. They all can teach you valuable lessons that cannot be acquired anywhere else. Recognizing your teachers will help you stop and think so that you can get the most out of each lesson. Even the littlest of events can teach you the biggest lessons. The same goes for negative events. They may seem difficult to endure but there’s so much to be learned. Practice pausing and assessing a situation when it arises, then ask yourself these two questions: What is the reason for this? And what can I learn from it?

Study & do your homework

You also have to be your own teacher as well. Not all the information you need is going to present itself. You are going to have to seek it out, wherever it may lie. Sometimes it’s book, on the internet, or even within yourself. Do some extra studying and homework to get one step ahead of the rest.

Fail

In the school of hard knocks, it is good to fail. It is encouraged and necessary to achieve success. More often than not, failure provides you with new knowledge that success wouldn’t have provided. In the school of hard knocks you have to take chances, make mistakes, and fail, if you don’t you’ll be left behind.

Skip the parties and other time wasters

Don’t get caught up in negative things like drugs and alcohol. They don’t do anything for you but waste your time, energy, and money. There’s millions of other positive ways to have good time. Also don’t get caught up in “drama” that won’t even matter in 20 years, 2 years, or even in 2 weeks. Your time is precious.

Get a tutor

You are going to need help to graduate from the school of hard knocks. Create some contacts online with successful people, ask them questions and get advice. Even if you can’t actually contact the successful person you want, read as much about them as you can. Study their style and road to success, and replicate parts of it.

Keep notes

This is something you should literally do. Get a notebook to write down all your successes and failures so that you can better learn from them. In this notebook you can also jot down ideas and dreams. Getting things on paper is one step closer to manifesting them.

Make friends

Again, you’re going to need help to achieve success. Make some contacts with positive and successful people. It is quite easy to do so online. And also don’t be afraid to use your contacts to benefit you.

Always be ready for a pop quiz

Life is a tough teacher, it can give you a pop quiz when you least expect it. A lot of the times you’ll be tested before you have even learned anything. Always try to be ready for it. Stay sharp and don’t get complacent.

Work hard

You need to work hard to get yourself to a better place. The harder you work, the more satisfying the reward will be.

If you follow these rules, you’ll be graduating from the School of Hard Knocks at the top of your class.

Photo by justintosh

Life, Success | May 14th, 2008 | Published by Andrew Galasetti

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This article was published on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 9:56 am and is filed under Life, Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

22 Responses to “How to graduate the School of Hard Knocks with a 4.0”

Sj says:
May 14th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
This is great advice for both school and life.”Skip the parties and other time wasters” is a good tip that students should take in to account since I see so many young lives wasting away to these things.
Andrew says:
May 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Too many sure are. They think it is the best and only way to have fun when you’re young.

-Andrew
Art says:
May 14th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
This is my advice: Some will make it, some wont. Don’t be the ones who don’t make it. Simple.
Imperfect says:
May 14th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
@Dale : *You’re - Great grammer, wait *Grammar. Are you still with me
tunrek says:
May 14th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
WTF is this bullsh*t?

I’ve learned more at parties than I have at my High School! Education is a f**king joke these days. To pass you only need to attend.

Skipping parties will ensure that you have no friends and no future connections.

Rating of this article: FAIL.

This shit is unworthy of the DIGG home page.

Oh, and Sj, STFU bitch! I got balls of steel!
John says:
May 14th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
“Your a fag”, Dale clearly failed at Hard Knock’s English :/
Good article.
BANG says:
May 14th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
This is rediculous. You can’t blame drugs and partying on peoples failures. Are you not aware that the entire art industry from music to painting has a deep influence in drugs/drug culture. Not to justify it, but they’ve become legends and renound genius’s in our time. Keep your mind open, and absorb as much informatin and knowledge as you can. Education is key, but these days its administration is bullsh*t and a lot of the things students are forced to learn are compeltely useless and irrelelvent in terms of their interests.
Tobias says:
May 14th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I agree with BANG, the “stay away from drugs/alcohol” part really doesn’t fit with the rest of the article at all. I’ve personally had some of the most amazing and memorable experiences of my life with the coolest people on the planet while ingesting both. Keep your mind open to it all, since failing can arise from aspect of life (especially excessive partying).
The SNICC Blog » Blog Archive » How to graduate the School of Hard Knocks with a 4.0 says:
May 15th, 2008 at 12:07 am
[...] toughest and best education you can get. Sometimes it costs you money, but other times it’s free.read more | digg [...]
Jack Koff says:
May 15th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Good article.

And f*ck all these troll comments.
Jack Koff says:
May 15th, 2008 at 12:14 am
The people here who worship the use of drugs (including alcohol) need to stick with the scene a few years. You’ll definitely get a lesson when your dope-head friends start ending up six feet under.

F*cking loons like these love to go around preaching how much drugs can ‘expand your mind’ and all sorts of sayings that were cliche even in the ’60s. Get with the times, dudes/dudettes.
UCRPhysix says:
May 15th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I agree with both Bang and Tobias; I am about to graduate with a BS in Physics, and my cum GPA is 3.4. This is definitely not to say that I stayed away from either parties or alcohol or drugs; in fact, I felt all three have contributed to keep me from losing my mind! Sure, excessive amounts will destroy any person’s life, but the key word here is “excess.” Everything in life can be harmful if done in excess, including working and devoting oneself to productivity. I would actually say pot and ecstacy more than anything else have helped me realize that there’s more to life than just work and following the rules; sometimes you need to open your mind to new possibilities, and usually they help you figure out some of your greatest problems/regrets/feelings etc.

I would hope those reading this who’ve never done any of the aforementioned would at least consider the possibility of opening themselves up to these wonderful things, but also be weary that too much of any can lead to their demise. Thanks for your time.
VaporTrail says:
May 15th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Yeah, another physics major here. Skip parties? Um, that’s about the worst advice I’ve ever heard. Sh*t, there’s more important things to life than getting a job that pays. Some of my best friends are huge party animals. That being said, just don’t do it too much. I grew up in a rougher area (East Cleveland) and I know just how much drugs can screw up youth. I have a few friends that are dead or in prison now because of drugs and getting into the wrong crowd.

I, on the other hand, do drink and party just about every weekend at school. Weed, used to do it a bit, but I’m pretty sure I’m done w/ it for good. The rest of the article is quality advice but I just can’t agree with “skipping parties.”
FuzzLinks.com » How to graduate the School of Hard Knocks with a 4.0 says:
May 15th, 2008 at 2:26 am
[...] The School of Hard Knocks has no physical location but it has millions of students and just as many teachers, but most aren’t even humans. There are no books and there are countless tests. It’s the toughest and best education you can get. Sometimes it costs you money, but other times it’s free.http://www.lyved.com/life/how-to-graduate-the-school-of-hard-knocks-with-a-40/” rel=”dc:… [...]
Andrew says:
May 15th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Thank you to all those who comment, whether it was negative or positive, at lease it got you thinking and talking.

@Art - I don’t know if that is the best way to look at people. If everyone tapped into their full potential who knows what the world would be like.

-Andrew
AARON says:
May 15th, 2008 at 8:30 am
REALITY IS THAT DRUGS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM IN SOCIETY A QUALITY EDUCATION THAT IS NOT DICTATED BY A UNION OWING THE INDUSTRY FORCING PEOPLE TO UNDERTAKE SUB PAR EDUCATION. THIS IS CAUSED BY THE CRONY ISM IN YOUR GOVERNMENT. WE ARE FAR MORE EDUCATED AND WE ARE ON THE SAME CONTINET. MAKE YOUR GOV’T TRUE AND ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE AND YOU CAN SOLVE ALL YOUR SOCIETAL ISSUES.
Fox says:
May 15th, 2008 at 11:32 am
School of Hard Knocks a.k.a. Common-sence

Also, I would like to add that OVER-indulging in anything is that bad thing to do - not just generaly doing them (the rule on the drugs).

Nuff said.
Mike says:
May 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I like coffee, it is my drug of choice. As a workaholic, it is important for me to cool down with a shot and a beer every now and then. Not every night, but if you get too spun up, you may fly apart.

Also, the jackass who didn’t think that some drugs expand your mind or influence perception, has never tried psilocybin. I have never used Coke, Heroin, Meth or anything like that, but mushrooms are a different experience. It was suggested to me by a nationally known chemist, as a way of re-evaluating what you see.

It did.
bluehark says:
May 16th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
sorry, i realize that i might get dugg down for saying this, but this is a bunch of BS. you can write anything as self-help these days, and it’ll be bought. but ask yourself, did you ever, after these quick, in 7 steps, fix up your life, did you ever change anything?
Andrew says:
May 16th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Sorry you feel that way bluehark.

-Andrew
Kyle says:
September 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I think many of you misunderstand the gist of the article. The school of hard knocks has nothing to do with an academic education. It’s about life and it’s experiences. The author is just using drugs as an example of what you might not want to waste your time finding out. People who’ve had drugs 101 (celeberties, musicians, commoners etc.) are our teachers through music and word of their experiences.So you don’t have to take that class. He mentions nothing about not enjoying life and parties. The school of hard knocks is about finding things out the hard way but learning from the choices and mistake we make. Life is hard, enjoy the good stuff.
Andrew Galasetti says:
September 14th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Thanks Kyle! You understood the article exactly.

-Andrew