I’m a bit tardy on the following blog. I meant to write it a while ago, but I’ve been quite busy lately. Anyway, better late than never.
So my daughter started college a few months ago. The years flew by with the blink of an eye. I remember as if it were yesterday, when as an infant, she would vomit all over the baby sitters every time my wife and I went out for dinner. It was a few years later, at 4 years old, when she was misbehaving and I told her “go straight to your room.” She replied “I can’t go straight to my room Daddy, I have to make a right turn to go up the stairs and then I have to make a left turn at the top of the stairs!” I knew then I was in big trouble. I just didn’t know how much.
There are hundreds of other stories of course – but I’ll spare you the sometimes gory and mostly comical details. Driving her to college the morning of “move-in day”, I had a knot in my stomach. How can she possibly be going off to college? How have the past 18 years flown by so quickly? There were so many things I wanted to tell her that morning…things I had failed to truly get through to her the prior 18 years because she was still my little girl, not the teenager she had become. Sure, I think I did a fairly solid job of teaching her right from wrong, but there were decades-worth of information I’ve gleaned over my many years of life which I wanted to somehow transmit telepathically into her brain.
We’ve both never been great at communicating with each other. Teenagers never want, or need, to listen to their parents. We are the last people on their list in terms of “go-to” resources. They’ll ask their friends, they’ll post questions on Facebook or even Yahoo answers, but their parents? No way.
So I decided to post a few things on my blog because I know she’d rather read my blog than listen to me lecture her. So here you go sweetie, in the form of my Top Ten.
10) Work hard in school and take pride in whatever you do. When I was in college, I didn’t take it nearly as seriously as I should have. Take advantage of it and get everything out of it that you can. You don’t realize until way later in life the value of a college experience.
9) Learn a useful skill while you’re in school, one which will allow you to create value in some form or fashion in the future. But whatever you do, make sure you love it. In the long run, you’ll be happier and you’ll be more successful if you’re doing something you want to do, every day.
8) Always go after what you want in life. Be determined. People who are successful don’t accept “no” for an answer. They never give up and they don’t waste time on nonsense. Have a laser focus on all of your goals.
7) Be generous. I’ve always told you this, but now you need to remember this every day. Give, don’t take.
6) Be self-sufficient. Don’t depend on anyone or anything. If you can take care of yourself, you can take care of anything.
5) Guys in college (and many even out of college) want one thing. If they tell you otherwise, they’re lying. I know some women want the same thing, just not as many. Just be smart.
4) Be competitive. Life is a game. Play to win. You should always want to win, but you should always be a gracious loser as well.
3) Be happy. If you have your health, you have no reason not to be happy. All problems work themselves out eventually, even things beyond your control. So don’t stress out over them.
2) Don’t drink or party (too much).
1) And as always…be passionate!
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