A long time ago, the Dallas Maverick basketball team, while their new arena was under construction, practiced at the same gym where I went for morning workouts. On the first day of practice, weeks before the season began, there was already a big banner hanging up over the basketball court that read “The Playoffs Begin Now.” The point, as I understood it, was to remind the players that in order to make it to the playoffs they would need to be preparing then, not waiting until the end of the season.

In some ways, college applications work the same way. Your college admission begins now. You should feel no pressure whatsoever to know where you will go to college, what you will major in, or what you will write on your application essay. But all the information that goes on an application—transcript, list of activities, skills and accomplishments—starts compiling your first year of high school. Luckily, there are only a few major things to figure out now to make that process much easier and successful later. Keep reading.

Work at being good at high school. This has an academic side—take the most rigorous classes you can, get the best grades you can, be involved in your education. But just as important at this point are the social and emotional sides. You’re easing your way into a new and exciting (and challenging) place. You’re going to have missteps, and you’re going to change your mind about things. That’s normal, and that’s fine. If you’re feeling pressure to make yourself into a perfect resume—from your family, your school, your friends, or your self—just repeat this mantra to yourself and anyone else: the best way to prepare for college is to be a good high school student. If you find yourself feeling disconnected from high school because you’re already too immersed in test prep or overexerting yourself in too many activities to boost your college prospects, then it’s time to back off and reevaluate.

If by Halloween there’s a class that still isn’t working out—because it’s too easy, or too challenging, or not the right fit—bring this up now and see if there are schedule changes that can be made for the spring semester. Keep doing your best in the class, but understand that adjusting plans is something that all successful people do.

Explore your interests. Remember that the whole point of education is to help you be a productive, happy, and interesting person. You can’t and shouldn’t wait until some future date to start working on those things. Explore activities and interests that you haven’t before. Try out a new club, sit somewhere different for lunch, find an interesting question to ask a teacher you haven’t connected with yet. The great thing about high school is that you get to do a lot of growing and changing and developing—you’re not stuck being the same person you were at the end of last year or the beginning of this year. But the hard part is that you are in charge of that growth and development; it can’t happen passively. So try new things, read new things, listen to new things, talk about new things, think new things.

Begin good habits. There are two things you need for success in college and beyond: a meditation routine and a time management system. Now is the time to begin.

Start talking to your family about paying for college. Ask them what the plan is, what your priorities should be, and how you can contribute. If they give you any of the three most popular answers (“don’t worry about,” “we can’t afford anything,” or “we don’t have enough to afford it but make too much for financial aid,” then please ask them to reconsider. You need something more specific. You’ve got time to have these conversations, but now is the best time to begin them.

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Photo by Zoe Herring.