"Ugh another list telling me what to do with my life." I get it, but as a struggling, over ambitious, and extremely perceptive college student, I think there are a few things you need to know, and lots of random GIFs to look at.
1. One Thing at a Time!
While you're sweating out every detail of your future during one of your impossibly hard accounting/physics/under water basket weaving classes, you're not doing yourself any favors to get there successfully. Of course classes are going to be hard, college is all about challenges. You've also got a meeting after your next class and you were too busy scrolling Facebook to prepare the agenda. You want to get everything done at once, but nothing happens because you get so stressed you start finding ways to cope instead of finishing a project. Daydreaming and making excuses not to read ahead and get a tutor aren't going to ease that teetering C grade back onto solid ground. Before class, look at the material and make an outline of all the foreign concepts you don't understand. If by the end of class you haven't filled all of them out, take the rest to your professor. Being a few minutes late to your next class is worth it if you can fill in the blanks. If they are not able/willing to help you, link up with a classmate you know is doing well or a tutor. Do your agendas for meetings the night before, AFTER your homework. Get some sleep so you feel well doing your thing. All of your other responsibilities will fall into place if you do one thing at a time, and do it well.
2. Get Lit!
HEY YOU, STOP PARTYING SO MUCH! "Wait, what? You just said to get lit!" I'm talking about getting to be financially literate my friends. According to Forbes.com, 57% of Americans could not make a passing score on financial literacy tests, ranking us the 14th most financially literate country. As a first generation college student, I came to college with no idea how to do my taxes, my budgets, or how to take out a loan. As of right now I am schooling myself as quickly as possible because the real world is just around the corner! I know it's fun to go out after a stressful day of classes and meetings, but set up a savings for yourself and start thinking about becoming more self-sustaining. Find out how financially lit you are here: http://www.usfinancialcapability.org/quiz.php
3. Invest. In. Planners.
You've probably been told this a million times, but take my advice on the millionth and first. If you're like me, you're working through college, you have 20 credit hours, and your personal life keeps throwing tantrums to get your attention. You are a very ambitious person with bills and meetings, and unfortunately you only have one brain to remind you all of this. Get a planner book. It's nice to set up extra reminders on you tech gadgets, but I find myself wanting to check Facebook when I get them and I forget what I was being reminded about. It's fun to personalize your planner, the more attached to it you are the more useful it is. Jot down important dates, names, and ideas as they come; waiting to fill in your planner later leaves out a lot of details. Keep it handy at all times. Organization and time management are the two most important skills you can have in college.
4. Make Friends All Across Campus.
High school was a time in our lives where we prided ourselves in being popular and having the coolest friends. It is still important to have that need for socializing, but now is not the best time to stay locked in with people who's personalities don't go past their parties. Talk to the most quiet person in your class. Ask them to get coffee and go over notes, but bring a few icebreaker questions to show you have interest in them. There is something to learn from everyone you meet, whether it is good study habits or how not to go to bed at 4 am on a Tuesday night. Once you are comfortable enough socializing, make a point to get to know your professors. Even in an auditorium style class of 300, your professor probably would love to meet a caring student like you. Ask them for help, or better yet, ask them how they got through college. It's always good to learn from other's mistakes. Don't forget the workers in your cafeteria and the maintenance crew. They see everything that goes on, and it's never a bad idea to be friends with the eyes of your college.
5. Give Up Television. Get Off of Facebook.
It's nice to be current with the times, but lucky for us newspaper and talk radio still exist. I gave up television when I was a freshman and I am slowly but surely cutting back on my social media interactions. For me, television is so saturated with negativity and stereotypes, I feel like it distances me from reality. By the time I was 18, statistics show that I had already seen over 200,000 violent acts on television. When you get to college, your eyes are opened to so many new issues going on in the world. Yes, a good portion of it is covered on television but it is usually biased and skewed to favor a certain agenda. Getting rid of television allows you to more freely explore what is going on in the world by doing research and finding local organizations that can actually put you into action to change what you're upset about. NPR is a great source to tune into on the way to class to keep current, as well as tuning into podcasts and PBS online videos. You are much less likely to be bombarded with ads if you choose the news source yourself. As for social media, most of us have begun to use it for school work and our jobs. I think it is extremely important to separate the three. If you want to know what your friends are doing, just text them. If you want to share a photo every once in awhile, or I don't know, write an Odyssey article, do it with purpose. Mindless scrolling takes up too much of our valuable time. If you're looking for entertainment, get a hobby or join a cool club on campus. Doesn't it get a little old when all you and your friends talk about is TV shows or what you saw on Tumblr? Plan something fun, create your own adventures! A little Netflix before bed is totally cool though.
6. Stay True To You.
Lists are great to peek at when you're trying to find guidance in an uncertain time in your college career. Keep an open mind, but never forget where you come from. Everything in your life has lead you up to this moment. You know yourself the best, and life will take you where you need to be. Right now, I am in between places to live, I am broke, and I am over committed. Surprisingly, I am the happiest I have ever been. Life is extremely hard and I have learned to love it for what it is, because I love myself. You are told to go to college to become who you are supposed to be. You are already who you are supposed to be, anything extra you pick up is only adding value to your time on earth. Don't be scared if things are not going according to plan, for life really starts at the end of out comfort zones. Take care of yourself and go further than you ever imagined, the world really needs college kids like us.
