How do I have a successful ti...

I have been asked this question many times by different students, and I think it is a really good question.  Thanks goes to Rong Hao for getting me to write my thoughts down on this topic.  I hope you find the following helpful in your next one, two, three, or four years of school.  ^_^

After much thinking on what it means to have a successful college career—and subsequent life—I have come up with a few areas that would be good to advance in as you go through your years at RUC.  The first two are general areas that you will be able to see tangible growth in, and the third is a little less tangible.  The first two you will be able to measure by looking at your grades, your friendships, and your activities—the third is not so easily measurable.

The first area that I would encourage any college student to grow in is self-discipline.  Successful people are those who have mastered self-discipline in the area of their expertise, and in most cases, large parts of their life. 

It is most likely the first time you have been away from your family, and the loving guidance of your parents.  Now that you’re a college students, you probably do not have to ask your parents if you can go out with your friends at night and stay out late; you are making your own decisions now.  This is a good testing area—do I not complete my homework and play with my friends, or do I complete my homework done on time and be a good student?

If you are disciplined, you will be able to complete tasks in a far more efficient manner.  For example, if you have a large paper to write that is due in 3 weeks, working on it for 15 minutes per day will be less stressful than working on it all the night before and being tired the next day. 

Simple areas to apply this include keeping your part of the room clean, having good consistent habits, and completing tasks on time—if you can be disciplined in the small things, it will be easier to be disciplined in the large things for it will become more natural.

The second area that I see as a perfect area for college students to grow in is social abilities.  High school placed a lot of pressure to study constantly in preparation for the College Entrance Exam, and now you may feel that you have more free time than you ever have before!  Use this time to get to know how to talk to new and interesting people.  How do you adapt to new situations?  Not much in the present world is constant—everything seems to be changing.  How do you deal with change?  Are you able to talk to mean people as easily as nice people?  You can have fun with your fellow students, learn from your teachers, and meet people from all around the world!  On campus there are people from all over Asia, parts of Africa, North America, and Europe—what can you learn from them?  How can you interact with them?  Go out with them and have fun!  Just don’t let it replace school work.  Remember that your parents will still see your grades at the end of the semester.  ^__^

The third area that I would say is to understand who you are better.  In college, you will be exposed to many different ideas and competing values systems.  What do you think about these?  Which do you think are best and which do you think are worst?  Find out what makes you unique, and embrace that.  Find something that is bigger than yourself, something that isn’t just for the next year or two, but something that after living a full life you will look back and say that you didn’t waste your life.  What is great enough for that?  In the end you’re not going to remember the grade you received in your classes, what you ate for lunch,  or what song you liked best at KTV—you will remember the people, the experiences, what you lived for.

I wish you well,

Mr. Knilans