digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Successful students build a set of eight habits that extend beyond academics, covering forward thinking, adulthood skills, solution finding, relationship-building with faculty, outside learning, opportunity-spotting, physical and mental fitness, and trying things before feeling ready. The speaker says these habits come from his own observations and experience rather than a formal study, and that each one should help in the coming semester.
Key Points
- The eight habits, as named in the video: (1) Forward thinkers, (2) Deliberately move towards adulthood, (3) Solution finders, (4) Build relationships with teachers and faculty, (5) Learn outside of class, (6) Keep your ear to the ground for opportunities, (7) Keep yourself physically and mentally fit, (8) Try things before you think you're ready.
- Forward thinking matters because students who don't plan ahead end up scrambling at the last second and miss opportunities others catch.
- Taking on adult skills early, such as banking, taxes, financial aid forms, and laundry, means you already have a base of skills when the demands arrive.
- Faculty relationships pay off later through opportunity tips and recommendation letters for jobs and scholarships, since those people know and trust you.
- Learning outside your major can produce unexpected career benefits, as the speaker's friend Martin showed by blogging about language learning and getting hired at a web agency.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Forward thinking: once a week, sit down and ask what is coming up soon. Set reminders in a task manager or calendar for deadlines such as when the class scheduler opens, and secure an apartment early, since leases in college towns start around the same time.
- Forward thinking in relationships: note upcoming birthdays and reach out to friends you haven't talked to in a while.
- Adulthood: build skills early, such as opening your own bank account, doing your own taxes, filling out your own financial aid forms, ironing a shirt, and doing your own laundry.
- Solution finding: adopt the "15 minute rule" used at the speaker's friend Matt's company. Spend 15 more minutes on a stuck problem, documenting what you tried and what failed, then ask for help. This balances independence with not wasting others' time.
- Faculty relationships: at the start of a semester, introduce yourself to each teacher after class, shake their hand, and say you're excited to be there. Email professors articles they might like with a short note such as "I read this and I thought of you."
- Opportunities: watch campus bulletin boards for flyers and follow your school's main social accounts, plus professors and departments you're involved with.
- Fitness: make time for exercise, healthy meals or dining center meals, and enough sleep each night. Ask a professional for help if dealing with burnout, anxiety, or depression.
- Trying things early: apply for things even when you seem underqualified. The speaker applied to Business Council as a freshman, was accepted, and was later elected to its leadership board.
- The speaker credits Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as the inspiration for the format, but says these eight habits are his own.
- The speaker cites Neil Pasricha's The Happiness Equation, arguing for a circular model (do leads to can do, which leads to want to do) instead of the linear "be able, then want, then do" approach.
- The speaker's examples include his own freshman-year club application and a Valve marketing anecdote from 2011 about Portal 2 that he shared with a professor.
Bottom Line
Successful students prepare early, build real-world skills, and act before feeling fully ready, because doing the thing is what builds the ability to do it.
