Erasing the Finish Line
The New Blueprint for Success Beyond Grades and College Admission
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Moving beyond a prescribed path for success, Erasing the Finish Line highlights the essential skills to help each young person thrive in school and life
For years, we’ve been led to believe that great grades, high test scores, and college acceptance are key to a successful life. Yet our laser focus on these achievements leaves students feeling anxious, demoralized, and unprepared.
What if we’ve overlooked the critical skills young adults need to navigate an ever-changing world? What fundamental skills help young people adapt, persevere, and thrive?
Academic advisor and early career development expert Ana Homayoun answers these questions and more in her accessible and solutions-oriented guide to transforming future generations. In her ground-breaking new book, Erasing the Finish Line, Homayoun flips the way we think about education.
In this refreshing approach, Homayoun reveals new strategies to help each student develop their own blueprint for success, including how to: Develop a system based on executive functioning skills Build valuable social capital while fostering genuine connections Identify energy profile and how to recharge Expand perspective through immersive exposure Remain adaptable in the face of disappointments and setbacks
Through a powerful blend of theory, strategies and storytelling from former and current students, Homayoun’s layered approach to revisioning education will bring sharp realization to parents, educators, and policy-makers alike.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this innovative guide, academic adviser Homayoun (Social Media Wellness) urges parents and educators to reconsider how they can help high school students succeed. Debunking "outdated narrative equating college admissions and success," Homayoun argues that "the belief that... one decision can fundamentally alter the entire trajectory of a young person's life" reinforces "downright false" notions of what lends students drive, purpose, or happiness. By focusing on holistic skills, such as organization, flexible thinking, and relationship building, students are better equipped to flourish in a "fast-changing world," she writes. Drawing on her experience counseling high schoolers, college students, and professionals, Homayoun discusses the wisdom of building predictable routines (consistent bedtimes, study schedules); cultivating "openness and curiosity in approach to socializing," as understanding and using social capital is essential to being a "well-connected, well-resourced adult"; and paying attention to proper "energy management" instead of squeezing an endless litany of items into to-do lists (students are encouraged to consider the activities that drain them and those that energize them, and to brainstorm how to "recharge energy on a daily/weekly basis"). Homayoun offers a welcome, experience-backed alternative to the "current one-size-fits-all" model for life success—driven by test scores and an obsession with college rankings—that is often only available to the wealthy. This is a valuable resource.
