So, you were Number 2 in your high school graduating class of 500. You probably thought that this claim to intellectual fame and popularity in high school would lead to professional success. You felt like you were somewhat popular; got yourself a degree and now wonder why you can’t even get a GOOD middle-management job; much less advance your career to the upper executive ranks. You know for a fact that some of the people above you almost flunked out of college while you spent Friday nights studying.
So why are they doing well? Why is life so unfair to you?
First, forget about them. Next, forget about your past. It’s great you were Number 2, but nobody cares anymore except you. It’s time to understand how your outlook on things has held you back.
While there aren’t many studies looking at high school or college success translating to the real world, there was a fantastic one done over an extended period of time by Boston College researcher, Karen Arnold. She kept tabs on 81 high school valedictorians and salutatorians after they graduated.
She found that the sampling of valedictorians and salutatorians did well in college (average GPA of 3.6%), but none of them had changed the world or are considered the top in their professions. Most reported being content with their lives, but it was clear that success in high school while translating to achievement in college, didn’t send them to the head of the class in the real world. Only 40% were in middle- or upper-level jobs.
Here’s a different statistic to consider that came from Harvard researcher, Shawn Achor. He found that the average GPA of over 700 millionaires surveyed was 2.9 percent.
Who were these millionaires? Probably not the popular kids. Research done in both 1977 and 2005 seem to point out that the most “popular” students took average jobs while the less “popular” seemed to move on to better-paying jobs and found their passion outside of social interaction.
So, what to account for this discrepancy? Arnold told Time magazine in 2017 that those who do the best in high school are often not the smartest. They are; however, the hardest workers.
“They are well-rounded and successful…but they’ve never been devoted to a single area in which they put all their passion. Valedictorians aren’t likely to be the future’s visionaries…they typically settle into the system instead of shaking it up,” she said.
Dr. Mitch Prinstein, a professor at the University of North Carolina, had researched how reputation (social status) and likability (social preference) in high school played out when it came to the success of a person’s life. His data suggests the concept of peaking in high school is a genuine thing.
“There is some evidence to suggest that 10 years later, 20 years later, they are having some more difficulties with relationships, those that were high in status in adolescence,” Prinstein told Business Insider.
The most popular students in high school, Prinstein concluded, are less happy and prosperous than many who were of a lower social caste because their popularity was mostly superficial, and when they left high school, they had not yet learned how to create meaningful relationships.
Most importantly though, Prinstein indicated that there are exceptions to many cases and it’s a matter of shifting mindsets later in life.
However you perceived yourself to be years ago, and however you perceive your future is not relevant to your present. Allen Saunders (not John Lennon) said: “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”
If you’re unhappy with where you’re at professionally and you’re disappointed about how things turned out, it’s time to stop judging based on a former iteration of yourself. It’s time to drop resentments against others who may not have been as popular, but have gone on to be more successful–at least according to your measurement of success. It’s time for you to reinvent who you want to be.
If you need some help breaking out of this funk, consider investing in a coach or find a mentor who can give you a new perspective. Let’s have a conversation. Contact me to schedule a complimentary consultation at http://maricarmenpizarro.com/contact-mari-carmen/
