It doesn’t matter if you partied hard or studied hard during college or high school; the way to success afterwards is the same.
You can define success by watching the way your parents lived or you can pick someone in particular and base your ideas on that person. Either way, and whether your intentionally thinking about it, you likely have a vague definition of success.
School likely didn’t teach you.
And since we’re guys, you probably haven’t and aren’t looking to ask anyone on how to achieve success. That’s a similar idea to my new book “The Marriage Advance”, which is based on guys who have hard marriage questions but are unwilling to ask for help or answers. Chock it up to ego or pride.
What you can be sure of though, if you don’t know how to find success, you won’t achieve any. I have learned that success takes effort. It takes YOU DOING something more. It involves YOU going above and beyond. It takes an ABOVE AVERAGE effort.
Where do I think you need to aim your effort? In the five areas listed below.
Let’s collaborate guys and hear what you would add to this list.
Aware of their habits
What worked in college won’t likely work in the real world. No longer can you expect to have everything handed to you. Gone are the days of not cleaning up after yourself. Gone are the days of letting your parents pick up the tab, wash the clothes or keep track of your paperwork. Real life will require you to take a hard look at your habits and make big changes.
Tracking their money
Did you have to pay for your college? If so, expect money to be tight. Throw in rent, food, insurance and a thousand other things and you have a recipe for finding yourself cashless! Remember that word “budget”? It’s a mysterious word you may have heard your parents use on occasion. Bu.. Budg… Budget! Tracking your money is a must now. Do your future self a favor and hit up Dave Ramsey for some outstanding tools for your finances.
Learning efficiency
Time to get up! Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work you go! Sure you have to make money to pay those bills, but I assume you still want to have some fun on occasion. Learn to be efficient and disciplined. Learn to schedule your week out. Review your calendar. Set up reminders. Know when you getting paid and when bills are due. Don’t bury your head in the sand because the responsibilities of life are too much, get up each day and choose to be efficient!
Balancing their time
Time management mattered some in college right? Get to class on time. Turn in this or that paper, and move on. Know what time you need to get to work. Know what time you need to get to sleep in order to be fully rested each night. Be aware of your vacation and personal time. Your time is extremely valuable, so please treat it that way!
Reaching toward goals
First day out of college you can either choose to take it easy for a few weeks or you can choose to set a goal and work towards meeting it every day. Did you meet it? Good. Set another goal and keep at it. Having something to work towards or look forward to will greatly increase your chances in accomplishing it. It took me over 2 years to get my first book published, but I stuck with it and now it’s out! More info here for you married or soon to be married gents.
So what’s it going to be? Taking the time to read this post was a solid first step. Now step up and start doing them!
NEXT STEPS:
Review each area and give yourself and honest assessment.
Pray for clarity in each area and for His direction moving forward.
Make a deal with yourself to quit sitting around and get started TODAY!
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