1. Understand Yourself

Due to our constant exposure to the lives of celebrities whether it be through television or social media, it is very easy to be influenced by what is popular at the moment. What I feel is the key to living a much more profound and unique life is to acknowledge that pop culture exists, but do not necessarily feel obligated to follow it.

Do what you want, not what a celebrity in a sponsored Instagram post is promoting. On the other hand, if what you want to do just so happens to be what a celebrity is promoting… more power to you! The message I am trying to convey here is, know who you are without relying on outside factors to tell you.

Truly decipher what your beliefs are, what your standings on popular arguments are or something as simple as what your favorite color is. The beauty about being human is that we evolve over time, what might have been your favorite color five years ago very well could be your least favorite one now.

I think by now you guys are picking up what I'm putting down. After coming to this more in-depth understanding of yourself, the only thing left to do is to stay true to it. It is okay to change, but only on your terms; feel free to go through this self-exploration process as many times as needed, for as humans we are never done evolving.

2. Make Goals

Before I continue to talk about life as if I knew everything about it, I am going to share a story. My friend Rachel's eighteenth birthday was over winter break and as a gift she was given a car, a red Volkswagen beetle. She was so excited about it, she filled up the tank and picked all our friends up (including me) to just drive around the city.

Low and behold we ended up running out of gas on the highway. In some weird way, this story relates to life. The red Volkswagen beetle filled with gas is a symbol for us, young, eager and full of potential. The idea of aimlessly driving around correlates to the situation one is in when they have not set goals for themselves, and the running out of gas is a representation for the loss of excitement, eagerness and curiosity found in a young adult when they have wasted time on things that haven't amounted to anything.

Now Rachel doesn't exist, but the red Volkswagen does, the only difference is I own it. Unlike Rachel, I know where I am going before I get in the car.

Setting goals for yourself save you time in the long run and prevent you from being discouraged, for if you have goals you have a plan set for how you will achieve them. When it comes to any profession, ambition is a deciding factor between who truly excels and who doesn't. An individual with ambition and a plan will always surpass one who has no clue where they're going… for how do you expect to win the race without knowing the track?

3. Take Risks

This topic can be controversial for it is solely based on perspective. There is the argument that calculated decision-making can lead to a safe outcome. From my perspective, no one who achieved greatness ever played it safe. It is important to make educated decisions and calculated risks, but never to avoid the idea of taking risks as a whole.

On the other hand, reckless risk-taking can have many undesirable outcomes. It is vital that one inquires further on the decision being made before taking that risk; for there are more times than not, that making uneducated decisions can backfire negatively.

In my experience, risks usually pay off when you are confident in the choices you are making. I am a firm believer that there are times in life that you just have to rip off the band-aid and go for it. If you were to spend multitudes of time analyzing the situation, you might grow nervous or discouraged and never really chase what you desire.

Risk taking is a dynamic and extremely subjective idea, but when executed confidently it can lead to success. If the only thing holding you back from taking that leap is yourself, Shut Up and Jump; because in this job-seeking market the difference between the person that gets hired and the person that doesn't can simply be the fact that one wasn't willing to put themselves out there.

4. Love Those Who Love You

Acknowledging that you are never alone is a big step in the formation of a leader. Taking people with you and allowing others to experience leadership is what being a leader is about. Leadership is not about bossing people around, but incorporating the strengths of each member to bring the team to success.

The acknowledgment of never being alone relates to loving those who love you, due to the fact that you are recognizing that you are supported. This is something I have struggled with my entire life; I like to put up walls, not around the perimeter of this country but around myself. Vulnerability scares the living crap out of me.

At a very young age, I acquired the personality trait of being a closed off individual. My ideas went from "never let them see you sweat", to "never let them see you cry", and ultimately to "never let them see you feel". I figured that if people didn't know I cared, that when they left it wouldn't hurt me.

But the worst feeling is when someone leaves because they didn't think I cared. Having these experiences truly revealed that sometimes the vulnerability is worth the risk of getting hurt. I've felt this way in a plethora of situations whether it be with friends or family; therefore, if someone is willing to go out of their way to show you support or love, acknowledge that they may be taking a risk in doing so as well.

Love those who love you.