Things I learned in College

Below is a list of what I learned in college. I originally posted this as my Senior post in a facebook group of a club I was in called Trojan Knights. I am excited to redo this exercise every few years or so to see what has changed and what else I have learned.

I think it is fair to say that at this point in my life (22 years old), the following captures 90% of my current life philosophy.

Things I Learned in College

-Tell your friends what they mean to you

-Slow down to speed up

-Awards are stupid

-Being good is more important than being perfect

-The only real failure is not doing anything

-Listen more than you speak

-Move physically closer to you goals

-Read more, exercise more, eat less

-A leader’s power comes from their ability to make other people powerful. The best leaders give those they are leading possibilities to live into rather than expectations to live up to

-Grades are a bad measure of intelligence. A lot of people with 4.0s are dumb. A lot of people with bad GPA’s are smart

-Grades do not measure intelligence. They are a proxy for how much material you were able to pick up from one specific class.

-There is a decreasing value to memorizing facts. The internet has made most facts readily available so there is decreasing value to having a ton of facts in your head. True value comes from synthesizing information into actionable ideas.

-Spend more time learning outside of class.

-It is okay to be alone. You don’t have to exclusively go to the dining hall with at least 3 other people. Solitude is a valuable and culturally underutilized introspective tool.

-Make others look better than yourself

-don’t cut people off. If someone gets cut off in a conversation return to them and ask what they were going to say.

-Be vulnerable

-There are no wrong answers

-Embrace things that are overwhelming

-tell stories quicker to get bigger reactions. Leave out meaningless details. As few words as possible to make the point.

-Start in the middle

-You are already enough

-Play at the top of your intelligence.

-Bring everything you have ever learned into every room you ever go into. Don’t compartmentalize your knowledge.

-Don’t deny others. If someone is telling a story and you remember it 10% differently, dont cut them off and say “that isn’t what happened.” It doesn’t actually matter and you just make it more boring for everyone.
-Allow yourself the freedom to be weird.

-Make parties more interesting by showing up in character

-Try to do social things that don’t involve drugs/alcohol sometimes.

-Don’t be thinking about your career all the time. Trust that things will fall into place if you keep working

-Show up on time to things. Don’t be late

-Go to office hours. Ask questions, engage with material to truly learn it.

- Good leaders take blame and give praise. Bad leaders give blame and take praise

-Explore more

-Don’t tic tak your friends on venmo (you ate ⅓ of the dorritos so I am going to charge you ⅓ the cost of the bag)

-embrace people who are very different than you.

-expect setbacks and get excited for them.

- fail at more things

-Don’t let other people tell you what you do or don’t like

-trust your imagination. There is always something there.

-Discovery is easier than creation.

-let go of your ego

-Show up for others. Go to your friends’ performances, shows, art exhibitions, intramural games etc.

-begin with the obvious. Every idea doesn’t have to be complex or earth shattering to have value. Keep things simple and relaxed. Trust what you have already learned

-Call your high school friends more

-Be optimistic about things

-Follow your fear

-Things are not stable or predictable. Count on chaos to happen. Let the sense of being off balance be exhilarating. Embrace the difficult.The ultimate goal is not to be completely balanced, but to enjoy the act of balancing.

-Accept other people as they are. Everyone brings something unique. We should set aside our impulse to change others to be more like ourselves.

-Stay on course. Things take time. Don’t give up because change did not happen immediately

-realize what you add to the group and lean into that.

-Thank people for helping you

-Make more mistakes. Use them to learn more. Admit mistakes when you make them

-Lighten up. Laugh at yourself more. Not everything needs to be taken extremely seriously

-Act now.

-Do the hard task first

-Many times, not doing anything is the action that is needed

-Join in with others when they are struggling. Jump in the trench with them.

-share control. At parties, kickbacks, meetings, group projects. Make an effort that everyone who is there is included

-Put positive thoughts into words and actions. Compliment your friends more. Let them know you care

-Find joy in whatever you are doing

-Choose to be happy

-unpack interesting things. Ask follow up questions

-With each person you talk to try to find the the topic they could talk about for hours. Then do that.

-Arguments and disagreements are not the same thing. A great way to learn is to find smart people who will disagree with you but never argue with you.

-Maximizing happiness means optimizing income relative to the other things in life you find important. Maximizing for income will not lead to maximum happiness.

-Think about the whole distribution, not just where you lie on it

-wake up earlier

-create more things

-Play positive sum games

-relearn the basics every so often

-Asking someone their major is the most boring thing you could ask at a party. Ask other people interesting questions. Would you rather be stuck on a desert island or a dessert island?

-Adventure is the opposite of safety. Constantly balance these two and when in doubt opt for adventure.