The Good, The Bad, The 2015: What I’ve Learned
By Judy Lee ‘17
1. Know yourself
By this, I don’t mean understanding what you like to eat/what you don’t like to eat/where you like to go/etc. Nothing superficially preferential really cuts it in the real world, and if you don’t know yourself on a deep enough level, you may not be able to organize your life accordingly.
By know yourself, I mean be mindful of your needs moment-to-moment, day-to-day. While you may know what you want to do when you graduate, or want to accomplish GPA-wise this upcoming semester, that is not the same thing as realizing that being somewhere quiet calms you better than being somewhere noisy. Learn to hone your instincts and keep track of them so that you know when to stay or…
2. Know when to walk away
This is one of the hardest things to do (although it gets easier), and it has a lot to do with knowing yourself. A big mistake I made this year and sticking around when I was not necessary, or wanted. This makes everyone involved uncomfortable and can be detrimental. Therefore, knowing your worth is directly tied to understanding (and being okay with it) when you need to leave—whether for personal or altruistic purposes.
3. Understand who you surround yourself with
When people say you are the six people you are closest to, they’re kind of right. It determines who you are as an individual in a larger structure. If it isn’t making you happy, then…well, it isn’t making you happy. It’s difficult to let go of friends in college because we all still hold onto that human emotion of hesitance.
We hesitate to be alone, hesitate to be “socially awkward”. However, time cannot be regained and is a precious resource—if you could find people who uplift and empower you, wouldn’t that be worth a few weeks of “loneliness” (aka time you can use to know yourself) rather than staying with people who you don’t consider friends?
4. Practice what you preach
This is hard for me, since I am advice friend. I am the friend who has her own portable soapbox built in and will motivate you until you feel better but also kind of hate me. What’s hard about being that friend is understanding that it’s a different animal coming from someone who truly believes it enough to practice what they preach and someone who prescribes it blindly from the internet.
It says volumes about you when you are a “do as I say, not as I do” person. It hurts your reputation and makes you look like a hypocrite. However, the upside is that by striving to be that person who does do what they advise, you will gain a whole lot of personal experience from it and may even tailor better advice based on your personal findings.
5. Hit the ground running
Never be caught off guard when it comes to things you want. That internship? Make a game plan of how you can get it. Want to run a fast mile? Literally hit the ground running.
Don’t wait for others to motivate you or convince you because, no matter how close they are to you, they don’t know your dreams like you do. If you truly want it, the only way you’re ever going to get it is by pulling yourself together and launching into it full-force. Half-hearted doesn’t work in real life—no one gets participation points, so might as well accustom yourself to being dedicated so you can position yourself to win.
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