Finding Opportunities for Self-improvement in Failure Anonymous

My junior year of high school, I took Honors Biology. Although I expected to do well, as I had always had a knack for science, I immediately fell flat on my face. At the midterm, I distinctly remember looking at my grades and seeing a 74. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach; I absolutely could not believe what I was seeing. The next day I met with my biology teacher to talk about switching out of honors biology and into regular biology. Thankfully, my teacher gave me the reality check I needed. Instead of letting me take the easy way out and switch into a class that I could succeed in with minimal effort he told me that the reason I was not doing well in his class was not because I didn’t have the ability, it was because I was not putting in consistent effort and completing my work. This was something I desperately needed to hear, as to that point I had been coasting in many of my classes. I wasn’t doing all my homework or studying hard, and was generally letting myself give much less than my best. But at that moment, talking to my teacher after receiving a 74, I decided that something needed to change. I buckled down and by the end of the term I had pulled my grade up to a solid B. However, I knew that if I maintained that...