1KHO 931: There Is More Than One Path To a Good Life | Ana Homayoun, Getting In Is Not Enough

Ginny Yurich (0:33)

Hey, friends, thanks for spending time with me today. I'm really excited about today's conversation because it gets at something that starts so much earlier than we realize. Ana Homayoun has spent 25 years working with students and families, and her newest book is called Getting In Is Not Enough, the new blueprint for success beyond grades, test scores, and college admissions. We're going to be talking about college, but this conversation is really about childhood, because when child acceptance becomes the finish line we're all barreling toward, it can start affecting the choices we make when our kids are 5, 8, 10, 12

Do they have time to play? Do they have time to be outside? Do they have room to discover what they're interested in? Or are we constantly thinking about the next class, the next team, the next achievement, the next thing that's going to give them an advantage?

Ana calls college acceptance a faulty finish line, because getting into a certain school doesn't guarantee a good life. And in our race to get kids there, we can overlook the very skills that can help them build one. This one gave me a lot to think about. Here's Ana Homayoun.

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Welcome to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast. My name is Ginny Yurich and the founder of 1000HOURS Outside, and we are going to be talking today about a topic that I'm super passionate about. I read a book called Getting In Is Not Enough, the new blueprint for success beyond grades, test scores, and college admission. The author is here. She's written several other books. Ana Homayoun, welcome.

Ana Homayoun (3:51)

Thanks so much for having me.

Ginny Yurich (3:53)

People can go to your website, anahomayoun.com. Check out your newsletter. I'll make sure I put the links in the show notes for spelling. You've got other books too. That crumpled paper was due last week, Social Media Wellness. This is about the three S's framework, and then The Myth of the Perfect Girl.

I took nine pages of notes on this book, Getting In Is Not Enough, because we frame all of childhood. Often, based off this, you call it a faulty finish line. Give us a little bit of your backstory. You're an academic advisor.

Ana Homayoun (4:22)

Yeah. So I started working with students 25 years ago, and when I started working with them, I really quickly realized that there were students that were incredibly cognitively intelligent and were losing their confidence in middle school and high school. They were becoming less engaged, they were less excited and enthused, and we were really losing these potential young people from their own greatness. And one of the things I found was really important, in addition to spending time outside, which I love your message because it's so critically important, was the executive functioning skills that come from the unstructured play, that we're able to organize, plan, prioritize, start and complete tasks and be adaptable as planned. So I started doing this work, and my office is located in Silicon Valley where I grew up, which is crazy. It's a crazy place. I can say that to all people.