I had my post-school plan set-up when I was in Middle School, and have followed it so far. Everything for me is working out perfectly. You need a plan of action, you need to make decisions and find your goals. i don't understand how people start college not knowing what they want. A lot of people will tell you it's ok to not know what you want. Fuck those people! I have seen individuals go into their late 20's and are in the same position a 19 year-old should be in terms of educational process. Being unaware of your goals is a dangerous affair that can destroy you. 
 
It's better to have a pie in the sky dream and fail at obtaining that than not doing anything. in a lot of cases, a bad decision is better than no decision. Join the military doing a job in a field you are interested in, go to college, go to a trade school and learn a skill. Something!

"After high school I moved to Japan, hiked the largest mountain in the country, made love to my first woman, taught english, went to business school, transferred to Law School, met Kojima, people from Square Enix, and had the greatest video game voice actresses as my boss.  Dude, the gates are open, just head out there and charge in.  You'll be fine, just focus on that resolve.  Also, take lots of chances, no point living if you're not willing to risk everything for something. "

Just don't do what I did: 1 and a 1/2 years of undecisiveness. I'm 21 now but not even sure if I'm considered a sophomore yet or still a freshman. I have around 30 college credits and wasted $5,000 for one semester at an art school with only 2 classes? So what I'm trying to say is just take it easy. If it helps even further... I still don't know what I want to do. I want to go to Japan but it's so difficult to both go to Japan and pursue what I want. Realistically I should just go to school here in America because it's fucking America and our degrees have a standard of acceptance. Alright! So my tips... 
 

• You're finishing high school? Go to a community college. I currently go to one. Classes are easier than in regular college, and yet they transfer over. Ask about their associate's degree, this should have general education-based credits that transfer over. You can also take some electives and have fun, like art or cooking or something that will help determine your ultimate goal.
• Think about your college while going to community college. Some colleges, like the one I'm interested in (DePaul), have scholarships that encourage you to transfer credits to their school.
• Definitely don't hold off on all types of college. Don't just work, it doesn't help. If you go to community college then at least you're getting some education.
• Work hard. Like I said, I still don't know what I want to do but community college gives you a year or two (however much you want or need) to think about it.

Save up enough money for a plane ticket, fly somewhere exotic, find a monastery and better yourself.  Come back all Zen and shit in twenty years or so and be awesome.
Also, inner peace would probably let you kick ass at whatever crazy new mentally controlled consoles they'd better have by then.

I think you shouldn't pressure yourself. Think about what you want to do with your life, dream. And pursue them! 
 
For me that's the only worthwhile way of living. Being rich or poor.  

life doesnt even start till after high school. high school is just there to determine your social skills. other than that you can basically do what ever if you make the plans and go through with them.

" @ajamafalous: 
 
Quoting the Wikipedia article on Japanese:
 
As a result of this grammatical permissiveness, there is a tendency to gravitate towards brevity; Japanese speakers tend to omit pronouns on the theory they are inferred from the previous sentence, and are therefore understood. A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!".   This means that in the course of a regular conversation, I can just yell "DOGGY STYLE!", and it would make perfect sense. I wish the English language could do things that amazing. "

next thing to do in life is to go to college to something that your interested in. i picked a college (community) at the last minute of high school. i don't like school so yeah, i'm still there for like 3.5 years. it sucks that i that i;m there for so long.

" @ajamafalous:   I've my doubts that such things are possible. It reminds me of my plans to yell "RAMADAN!" at people (in place of "Happy Ramadan"), only with more sex. "

" @ajamafalous: 
 
Quoting the Wikipedia article on Japanese:
 
As a result of this grammatical permissiveness, there is a tendency to gravitate towards brevity; Japanese speakers tend to omit pronouns on the theory they are inferred from the previous sentence, and are therefore understood. A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!".   This means that in the course of a regular conversation, I can just yell "DOGGY STYLE!", and it would make perfect sense. I wish the English language could do things that amazing. "

" (I guess doggy style would count as a sentence in a conversation, somehow). "

I never tried to tackle life after high school, just tried to dodge it.

I had no idea either. I didn't want to go to college because I feel like I was going to waste my time. Instead I thought about joining the military for a while and I did. I joined the Navy. Now, I'll be able to travel the world while getting payed and feel like I'm actually doing something. And this experience will help me later in my life. I'll learn how to take care of myself better.

If you were boring in life, you can be exciting in death. Commit a creative suicide in public and people will remember you always.

" @azhang: 
 
Some of them definitely aren't hard. Hell, I already know that 人 means person, but I can see how something like 後背位 would be hard to memorize. "

I say you should go to college. Don't know what you want to do? Just take the general education courses. This way, when you decide on a path, you just have to take the core courses, and you're done!
 
Trust me, man. You're only going to be this young once, and may not ever have the opportunity to put this much time into school again. You'll never reach a point in life where you say, "Man, I wish I hadn't gone to college." But you may regret not going one day. So I say go to school now, and then when you're done you can backpack in foreign lands and do anything you want! You'll have even more options with a degree.

I moved to Japan too, moved in with my uncle of course. Went to school there, met some guy who kept falling off his bike, this girl who worked at the local inn and some other girl who liked steaks. Then things started getting f'd up, people started getting pushed into TV's and we met a hollow bear... 
 
Oh, did I mention I can summon monsters? Yeah there's that.

I didn't know either out of High School, until I took a few college classes and found something interesting I can do.

I know the advice is not that great... but dude 
 
Just live, if you're not gonna do college, just live life. Hang with friends, plan a road trip, follow a band cross country, just be alive.

Do not forget in all of this that KaosAngel has extremely rich parents and had the ability to do all this as he was likely rolling round on daddy's chequebook or at least had it as a back up.

" @azhang: 
 
Some of them definitely aren't hard. Hell, I already know that 人 means person, but I can see how something like 後背位 would be hard to memorize. "

 Video games, movies, and guitar all happen to be the industries that are impossible to extract a steady job from. 

Stop with this nonsense. Mundane and mediocre outnumber the talented. You're not the only average person. There are plenty of things you can do, you just apply yourself. You'll soon find yourself miles behind the pack if you mope for too long.

You don't tackle life.  Life tackles you.

I've been thinking about this kind of thing for the past few months. I'm in my second year of college, and if I didn't already have all this student loan debt, I would drop out and just go get a simple job somewhere (waiter, cashier, etc.) instead of all this "reach for the stars" bullshit society feeds us. Problem is that I was ushered into college without really thinking about it just because it was the "next step" in the educational ladder.
 
@Toms115 said:

" who cares about financial security? as long as you can afford to eat and do something you love, simultaneously, then nothing else matters. "

" @Video_Game_King: I picked it up in 3 months, before going I could do it basic.  After the house family teaching me, and talking to people...it took about 3 months to get it down.  Still can't write for shit...to much chinese. "

Tch, I'm a junior in college and I still don't know what I want to do. I just picked a major that semi-interested me and went with it so I wouldn't be here for like 8 years.  Beyond that I'm fucking clueless man. Welcome to the club.

given what little experience i have, the only advice i can offer is that, whatever you do, make sure you're keeping your creative fulfilment bar full. who cares about financial security? as long as you can afford to eat and do something you love, simultaneously, then nothing else matters.

" After high school I moved to Japan, hiked the largest mountain in the country, made love to my first woman, taught english, went to business school, transferred to Law School, met Kojima, people from Square Enix, and had the greatest video game voice actresses as my boss.  Dude, the gates are open, just head out there and charge in.  You'll be fine, just focus on that resolve.  Also, take lots of chances, no point living if you're not willing to risk everything for something. "

One of the best things you can do from my experience, is to just go out and meet people.
 
Meeting people leads to numerous contacts and possible job situations.

YOU SHOULD SHOOT UP SOME HEROIN AND GO TO THE MOON BRETHEN