I Almost Failed Grade 10 English And Now I Write Every Day - Here’s The 5 Life Lessons It Taught Me.
He placed his hand on my shoulder, and with a concerned look on his face, gently explained what would happen if nothing changed.
“If you don’t get it together, Landon, you’re going to fail.”
The year was 2003 - 21 years ago.
One of the few vivid memories I have from my high school days.
Walking through the east gym at Jasper Place High School where my English teacher stopped me.
I was failing Grade 10 English and I was not going to pass unless something changed.
I was the typical jock.
Thinking I could get away with anything I skipped almost as many English classes as I attended.
And the ones I did attend, I was usually high.
I hated English.
English class was writing, reading, and essays, and even though I wanted to be an artist as a child, the art of writing was not something I had any interest in.
I had it all figured out back then.
I was going to attend the Digital & Interactive Media Design program at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) after High School.
I picked my High School because they had a specific program run by someone who worked with Macromedia (which was later bought by Adobe) which would prime me for college.
Knowing the college program I was taking I did the bare minimum to get there.
I only took the pre-requisite courses and the ones required to get my High School diploma…
…Good grades in English weren’t on the list.
21 years later.
I went from failing grade 10 English to studying copywriting, ghostwriting, partnering with a copywriter, and writing daily.
If only my teacher could see me now.
Over the last 5 years, I have considered the idea of “copywriting” as a career pivot 3 times.
And today, a lot of what I do throughout the week consists of writing.
I have a daily writing habit where I post on LinkedIn and Twitter educating and building my brand. We call this “Content Creation” in marketing, but it’s writing.
I write weekly newsletters and long-form articles (like this one) every weekend.
I write Facebook ad copy, and email sequences, and help clients do the same.
All writing.
And I even have rough notes for the start of a book.
I find it fascinating to reflect on how much our lives can change.
No matter how much we have planned or think we have it together, it’s impossible to predict the future.
The opposite is true as well.
No matter what our past has held, it does not determine our future.
It’s been 21 years since starting high school and my life has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride filled with highs and lows.
I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons since that gentle but serious conversation in the east gym of Jasper Place High School.
If only my English teacher knew the impact his words would have on my life.
Here are the 5 life lessons I’ve learned from my Grade 10 English teacher.
1) Our Past Does Not Define Our Future.
I almost failed English and never read as a child.
21 years later much of my income is generated from the words I write. I have discovered a passion for the written word and love my ability to share, educate, and inspire through it. Our past does not determine our future’s potential.
Our future is ours to create.
2) Our Passions Can (And Will) Change - Don’t Fight It.
I had my entire life planned out before High School.
To everyone at school, I was a jock but on the inside, I was a computer nerd. My education and career path to become a Web Designer and Developer was detailed out before Grade 9. I spent 10 years in this career, then entered the fitness industry, then into marketing, now into writing, and many things in between.
Millennials and Gen Z change jobs on average every 2-3 years. As we grow, our passions can change, this is normal.
3) We’re All Unique And Diverse And Learn Differently.
Every one of us is incredibly unique.
The structure of the traditional school system is not designed for everyone to thrive. But much of our future “potential” is predicated on how we perform in this system.
It wasn’t until I was 34 that I discovered my neurodiversity, my unique wiring, and learned how MY brain worked. Only then did I start finding ways to thrive and advocate for my needs.
I encourage everyone to challenge the “norm” and find what works best for themselves.
4) Seek Inspiration But Avoid Judgment And Comparison.
Looking outward can be good - until it isn’t.
It starts with parental figures and turns to teachers and coaches, and as we enter our careers and businesses they become celebrities and mentors.
While they can be inspiring and the basis for what we begin to model we must acknowledge that the good can become bad. If the inspiration and looking outward turns to comparison, the comparison can lead to judgment.
The more I grow the more I begin to limit (and be more selective of) my exposure to outside influences.
5) Be Kind To Ourselves Through Life’s Transitions.
Bruce Feiler, best-selling author of "Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age," says that, on average, everyone goes through a life transition every 12-18 months.
Feiler found that, on average, we go through three to five, what he calls, lifequakes in our lifetime. Think of this as a major destabilizing transition.
In my letter, This Is Not What I Thought My Life Would Look Like At 35, I wrote about how different my life is now than what I had planned.
I’ve pivoted careers and gone through destabilizing moves multiple times in the last number of years. Feiler’s book helped me realize how normal this is, and how normal it is to feel lost during these times.
Being kind to ourselves during the transitions we will inevitably encounter in life is important.
The irony of this transition still puts a smile on my face.
The joy, happiness, and catharsis I receive from writing after being on the verge of failing the class that teaches the seeds of the skill set, continuously reminds me that the future is unwritten.
These 5 lessons have taught me a lot and I hope that these words may pass some of that wisdom on to you:
Our past does not define our future, it’s yours to create.
Our passions can and will change, don’t fight or fear it.
We’re all unique, embrace your uniqueness and fight for what you need to thrive.
Seek inspiration but not at the expense of judgment or comparison.
Be kind to yourself through the transitions that await.
21 years later these lessons have shaped me.
And it couldn’t have happened the gentle nudge I received so long ago.
-Landon