“Life has a ‘game-like’ quality to it.”
Kevin Hart
I was recently listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast #1480 which featured Kevin Hart. Kevin is often looked at as solely an actor and comedian and not much else. After watching the interview, however, I discovered that he is extremely wise and has great insight into how to become successful.
One of the things that he said that I loved was the quote that’s mentioned above. So think about, life is somewhat like a game. If you’re playing a video game, chances are you are trying to reach new levels, and in those new levels, you earn more things. In order to reach new levels, you have to achieve certain things on your current level and figure out new strategies and tactics to make it to the next level.
Doesn’t this sound just like life? What are we constantly trying to do in life? More than that, what were we designed to do in life? We were designed to want more, achieve more, and chase our potential. We were designed to desire the next level. I don’t know one person who does not want to achieve more. It’s innate. Go back to the nomadic days. People needed to hunt and gather, and the more you did that, the better chance you had to not only survive but thrive.
So, it’s clear that both in life and in games, we want to constantly strive to reach new levels. The problem we often run into in life is that we don’t know how to get to those new levels. But remember, just like a game, if you find new strategies and tactics that can help you level up, success is inevitable.
The Pillars
Despite what common culture tells us, success as a young person is not an esoteric thing. Yes, you can achieve a 4.0 GPA throughout college. Yes, you can do it while maintaining a social life. Yes, you can do it while maintaining your sanity! All it takes is learning what it takes to get there. Therefore, I now share with you the tactics that enabled me to continuously level up. Please take note that we will have further blogs that explain some of these points in extreme depth and that this blog serves as a summary.
- You don’t have to be perfect: In my sophomore year of college, I found myself in what I thought was a bad situation: I was getting 80s, 85s, and very low 90s on my pre-calculus quizzes. I was getting worried because those grades would not get me an A! I was constantly striving for perfection, and when I wouldn’t get it, I was so anxious that I wasn’t going to get an A. That’s when my professor told me, “Deven, you don’t have to be perfect in order to get an A.” WOW! Once he told me that, life became much more stress-free. I continued to strive for perfection, but if I didn’t attain it, I didn’t lose my mind. It’s not worth it. Long story short, I got an A.
- Don’t worry about finding the doors: At one point in college, I was stressing about figuring out what I wanted to do post-college. I was driving myself insane. I asked a professor, “Professor, how do I figure out what I want to do after college.” His advice was, “Don’t worry about finding your next doors, just focus on doing your very best in what you’re doing right now, and doors will automatically open for you.” He ended up being 100% right. I never stressed about the long term after that. I just focused on being present, and before I knew it, the long term questions I once had began to “magically” be answered.
- Don’t negotiate your goals: The moment you say to yourself, “Well, it’s okay if I get a 3.9” is the moment that you can kiss your goal of a 4.0 GPA away. At least, that’s how my mind always worked. I knew that the moment I let mediocrity slip in, it was going to consume me. Therefore, I never, EVER, said, “Well, that’s good enough.” Only 4.0 was acceptable. I was going to find a way there NO MATTER WHAT!
- Think Macro, Act Micro: I don’t want to dive too deep into this because this will 100% be a blog in itself. However, this point deals with Having a big vision and implementing daily steps to get just a little bit closer to that vision each day.
- Find the Solution: “OH MY GOD, I CAN’T FIGURE THIS OUT!” How many times have you done this? I know I have sounded like this on multiple occasions. When I did, the problem seemed to consume me. Once I started putting my energy 100% towards finding solutions rather than focusing on the problem, life became infinitely better and my performance increased.
- Build relationships….but for the right reasons: Networking is such a hot topic in college. We all want to get jobs, internships, and set ourselves up for success. However, networking with people for the sole purpose of getting something out of them is not the best approach. Rather, look to learn from people instead of getting something from them. People see through the fluff and love authenticity. We will talk more about this in another blog.
- Take initiative: Want to impress a professor? Seek information on your own. Don’t always want to be spoon-fed everything. Take initiative and figure things out on your own. This builds character and relates back to finding solutions.
- Find ways to keep yourself accountable: Similar to other points, we will cover this in a separate blog, but to summarize, you must find ways that enable you to hold yourself to a certain standard no matter what. For me, I make my goals public on social media so that now other people are holding me accountable. If I were to quit, I would not only be quitting on myself, but on others who believed in me as well, and that is 100% unacceptable!
- Change your perspective: I’ve taken numerous classes in college that I disliked. However, I never focused on how much I hated the class. Instead, I changed my perspective and said, “I don’t like this, but I’m going to have a badass story to tell once I get this A.” Therefore, I wasn’t focusing on how much I disliked the class but was focusing on how great of a story I was going to be able to tell at the end.
- Don’t take the easy route: Remember that achieving academic success should be done the right way. The right way means it should be done with the utmost integrity and honor. I never pass/failed or withdrew from any of the 54 classes that I took. Why? Because what was more important to me than even the grade I received was the person I became in the process and how I how I achieved my goal. If I just took the easy route every time, was I really developing myself? Negative. You want to build your character. Enjoy the process and embrace the hard times.
- Pick Friends wisely: “You are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” I know that you have heard this quote. And let me tell you, boy is this accurate. You have to pick friends who push you, inspire you, motivate you, and are either on the same level as you OR are where you desire to be in the future. If you’re spending time with people who don’t have the same focus, it will begin to have an impact on your focus. Focus on finding people who are driven just like you. Don’t just have friends to say you have friends. For me, it was hard to find these people sometimes, so I had to…
- Spend time by yourself: The Society of Growth and Success is special because it’s a community of like-minded people who are constantly searching for more. However, until this organization was created, I didn’t have many friends. I had PLENTY of acquaintances, but not many people who I spent serious time with. That’s just because in college a lot of people are focused on partying, drinking, etc., and they aren’t focused on the personal development side of life. Either find people who are into that, or stay by yourself. You’ll learn about who you are. That’s what is important.
- Own you: Literally every day I would hear things like, “That professor screwed me out of that A!” or “Man, he’s just too difficult!” The moment you say things like that is the moment that failure becomes inevitable. I was able to do well because I took full accountability for my actions. Everything I did or failed to do was not because of someone else, it was because of ME. This enabled me to know that I AM IN CHARGE OF MY FUTURE. I am the one writing my story, nobody else. It enabled me to craft the college experience that I wanted to.
- It’s never a lack of resources, it’s a lack of resourcefulness: There are so many resources in college that can help you on your road to success such as writing centers, math tutoring centers, professor office hours, peer tutoring, YouTube videos, and the list goes on and on. USE THESE RESOURCES…ALL OF THEM. It kills me when people say, “I just can’t figure this out.” Well, have you utilized all of your resources? Remember, use what’s around you. Eventually, you’ll come to understanding.
- IT’S ALL WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: Achieving something like a 4.0 GPA is not easy. To put it into perspective, over 2,200 people graduated from St. John’s University and only 20 people earned a 4.0 GPA. That comes out to .008% of the population. For me, it required such intense effort. There was literally not one day that I could afford to take my foot off of the gas pedal. Many tired nights. Many weekends spent just studying or doing work. Many hours spent with tutors and professors. But guess what, when I found out that I earned a 4.0 GPA, it was all worth it. The happiness you feel when you reach your goal trumps the turmoil you feel in the process. Man, it’s great.
So there you have it. Those are 15 tactics that I used in order to be successful. I have a lot more than 15 tactics, but I’d bore you to death if I mentioned all of them!
The 15 that I mentioned above will be touched upon in many future posts, and many of them will be blog posts themselves. That’s why this post serves as a summary of the points. It’s designed to get you thinking about these things and to start implementing them now. As we dive further into this series, things will become more clear, but remember that the best time to change your life is NOW!
