Live and Learn

As a guidance counselor of 14 years, I offer this as my best advice: Don’t underestimate what you’re capable of, and also expect to make mistakes. I have seen many students who cut themselves off from wonderful possibilities because of the fear of failure. I tell them that the only difference between our “wisdom quotients” is that I have made about 5,000 more mistakes than they have, and that I learned from each and every one of them.
Nancy Kennedy
Hill City, South Dakota

Some idealistic advice: Do everything you can to battle apathy. Some practical advice: Ramen noodles can feed you for about 49 cents. Dig that change out of the couch and eat up!
Jamie Pickavance
Austin, Texas

Don’t spend all of college focusing on your future career. You’ll be doing that for the rest of your life. Use this time to explore anything and everything that is of interest to you. Angela Matusik
New York, New York

Enjoy your summers, because one day soon you will be working all summer.
Charlotte Paris
Chatham, Virginia

Start Saving

You’re never too young to start saving for your future. Thanks to the amazing power of compound interest, the younger you are when you begin to save, the richer you’re likely to be later on. A well-rounded background makes you infinitely more qualified for life.
Joanne Chavanne
Palm Springs, California

Though the offers will begin flooding in as soon as you hit college, do not get a credit card. You think you’ll use it only for emergencies, but soon you’ll feel that wanting a pizza at 2 a.m. is an emergency.
Marisol Torres
Salt Lake City, Utah

Take a Chance

Find something you love to do, and do it well. If you really love what you do every day, it never seems like work.
Tracy Poole
Burnaby, British Columbia

Ask questions without worrying about what other people think. In college or on the job, you cannot succeed if you fail to ask for clarification because you’re afraid of looking stupid. Chances are that some of your peers feel the same confusion but are too afraid to ask.
Stacey Kawamoto
Kapolei, Hawaii

Each new beginning is a chance to reinvent yourself. Dare to be who you would really like to be. You have nothing to lose except whatever you didn’t like before.
Kelly Sikora Pocci
Downers Grove, Illinois

The best advice I could give anyone is read, read, read. Cultivate the habit. If you are always learning, you will never be bored. Then pass it on to your children.
Bridget Williams
New Castle, Pennsylvania

Expect to succeed. Expect to win. Expect to work for it.
Ragan Jenkins
Land O’Lakes, Florida

“Keep a journal of all of your jobs. I titled mine ‘Things I Won’t Do When I Am in Charge.’ As a member of a management team, I find it helpful to remember how I felt being the counter girl at a pizza place or the new salesperson at a huge company. Back then the journal helped me vent; now it helps me grow.”
Robin Pieper
St. Louis, Missouri