College Success: 5 Methods for Maximizing your Experience

Implementing success into any aspect of your life requires; patience, diligence, perseverance, fortitude, hard work, passion, and little bit of luck. There are numerous of examples of individuals who were able to implement success into their college experiences. Take for example George Lewis Ruffin (1834-1886) who was the 1^st black to graduate from Harvard University Law School; and in that same year managed to become the 1^st black to practice Law in Boston; and Edward Alexander Bouchet (1852-1918) who was the 1^st black to attend Yale and graduate in 1874; adding a doctorate degree two years later. Implementing success into your college experience isn’t about the end result; but the process of strategically positioning yourself to gain higher ground and obtain your goals. The road is long and laborious but in the words of Fredrick Douglas “Without struggle there is no progress“. Below, I have highlighted 5 maneuvers that will get you thinking about the long-road ahead.

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you” – James Allen

Changing Your Position

Implementing success into your college experience will definitely require you to lift your thinking to a higher position of understanding. You have to “learn how to learn” and begin the process of shifting your thinking into new orbital patterns of thought. Changing your position means seeing yourself as a power player on this global stage we are now treading on. You have to think about what you must do now to compete on an International level if information is doubling every 6-9 months. If, you can really grasp this concept you can understand that the things you learn in the next few months will have no meaning a year from now; unless you can think of very innovative ways to put it to use. The times are gone when you can just sit in a lecture, take a test, or quiz and be done. All truth has meaning and you have to extract the very essence of what it is you are learning and not waste your mental labor.

“Learning without thought is labor lost. Thought without learning is intellectual death” – Confucius

Developing tactics

If you think that you are just going to run into a university and in four years walk out with a college degree guess again. One of the main issues that preside within the HBCU collegiate body is that of “student retention”. Why are the rates so low? Why are students not finishing school? Could it be a lack of persistent focus, money issues, or even maybe family issues? Whatever, excuse we give it one of the main reasons for this malfunction is tactical warfare. College isn’t just a place you go to escape the realities of your past without any strategic positioning as how to make it work for your good. Since, it is your business to complete college and get a degree; then you must understand that “Business is warfare”. So, you have to do a better job of gauging your plans for getting the job done.

“The terrain is to be assessed in terms of distance, difficulty, ease of travel, dimension & safety.” – Master Sun

Rethinking the Future

It is true that nobody knows exactly what the future holds; but that shouldn’t stop you from understanding about where the world is headed. The future is now and you are the future so where are you going? Everyday, you should be writing down your future history into a journal allowing your mind to awaken its creativity and inventiveness. Writing is the gauge of your passion and should be utilized in preparing a greater tomorrow for your existence. Rethinking the future isn’t so much about the latest technologies and gadgets; as it is about how you can use your writing to create new careers and industries. Remember writing is the key to manifestation. So, if you are thinking about living in the years 2024 you need to be making sure that your ideas and thoughts are aligning up with that reality. You need to be exercising and getting yourself prepared to exist in that space.

“Education is the passport to the future for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today” – Malcolm X

Transforming the way you learn

Because, it takes so little time to find information on the internet practically about any subject you can imagine; doubles the time you will spend digesting, thinking, and learning how to quickly process the information you have received. This is where you have to use your multiple intelligences as mentioned in Howard Gardner’s” Theory of multiple intelligences”; to engage yourself in different ways of learning. Learning to use your Spatial, linguistic, bodily, verbal, naturalistic and communicative; learning styles will help you to analyze information better and gain introspect into your studies. Try reading a book from an I Pad (which you have probably done), watching a Harvard lecture on Physics from YouTube, or playing World of Warcraft on Xbox 360. The overall concept emphasizes that your learning must be done disruptively and not merely rote (Memorized) learning,

“The Illiterate of the 21^st century will not those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” – Alvin Toffler

Becoming a problem solver

As the educational models of yesterday are quickly becoming obsolete; more and more solutions to this changing paradigm of e-learning, virtual classrooms, and massive open online courses (MOOC) are becoming the norm. If you were to invent a way to take human anatomy 101 from Huazhong University in China from your campus; you then would become part of the solution in the shaping of higher education. Stop complaining about your collegiate experiences if you don’t have the guts to peak into your future; and solve a problem that none of your peers knows need to be solved. Step out of your social circle and dare to be great and concoct some ways to feed 3 billion people who are about to emerge on the world scene “From the slums to middle class” Become a problem solver and be a part of the solution to end poverty.

“You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem” – Eldridge Cleaver

Your ability to consider new ideas, understand your strengths, and develop soft skills such as (communication, the power of persuasion, & emotional intelligence); will be critical for your success in this 21^st century. You must learn to discard the old ideas and evolve into a broader gauge of educational training. You’ve got to teach yourself how to look at problems from different directions, and strategically think about implementing plans to accomplish your objectives and goals. Remember, the implementation process has always been more important than the strategy. So, action is the driving force behind the maneuvers that seeks to grant you your success.

“This is a work in progress; It has to be monitored-both its details and the implementation of the details.” – Gary Wadler