“If you are not making someone else’s life better you are wasting your time” Will Smith, Actor You are about to go off to college and I wanted to equip you the best way that I can by sharing wisdom that has helped me in life. I think of these stories often and they help me live my life and achieve things that many other people consider impossible. I hope they will help you in some way get the most out of your life. I want you to know that you can reach out to me. If I can help you in some way I will. Truly smart people ask for help when they need it Far too many young people flunk out of college in the first semester. I nearly did. I don’t want you to make the same mistake that I almost made. When I got to school the first thing I did was start building a social network. I went to every party. I hung out with my new friends. There were so many fun things to do....I thought I was studying enough. After all, how hard could the professors make the tests? I had no idea what I was doing. When my midterm grades came out I realized I was in trouble. I was in danger of losing my scholarship if I didn’t turn it around and improve my grades. I did the first smart thing I had done up to that point, I sought out advice from one of the school’s academic advisors. He told me something that day that profoundly impacted my life. It will serve you well to remember these words.... If you want to be more than average you have to do what the average won’t do I sat across from the counselor and said, “Sir, I don’t understand I’m a good student how could I be earning these grades?” He looked at me and got a big old smile across his face. He said, “John, what have you been doing with your time?” I said, “Um, uh, studying?” He laughed, saying, “John, you’ve got to start studying on Friday night.” I said, “Are you crazy! No one studies on Friday night.” He said, “John, if you want to be more than average you have to do what the average won’t do.” That hit me like a ton of bricks and still does to this day. There is real truth in that statement. He went on to explain that most college students start the weekend on Thursday night. If I studied on Friday I would gain an extra day. Plus, if I got my work done in the first part of the weekend I could go and enjoy the game or whatever else I wanted to do with my friends. But if I didn’t get my work done then I would have plenty of time to finish it by the weekend. If I waited until Sunday night I wouldn’t get it done. It was hard at first but I followed his advice and he was right. He also advised me to get ahead in my readings in the first part of the semester. He said you know there are going to be midterms and tests so if you do the reading ahead of time you will have more time for your papers and tests without having to pull all nighters. He told me not to studying in the main library because that was just a social scene. Go to the professional schools like the law school and the medical school where the students are serious about studying. Schedule study time just like you schedule work. During these periods every week you are going to study or work on your classes. On average you should study 3 hours for every 1 hour of class time. Never miss a class period. You can never make up that time. Think about how much money you are spending per class period. You can’t afford to miss them. I never did. Don’t forget to make your study sheets! The one page study sheet if done well is a guaranteed A. Do yourself a favor and work hard those first few weeks to get a week or two ahead in your classes. You’ll be glad you did when papers and tests come around. One of my friends typed up her notes at the end of each day to help her remember. See if they have a free tutoring service and if they do sign up for it! If they don’t see if you can form a study group with the smartest kids in the class but be careful this doesn’t turn into just social hour. The most important thing that will determine your level of success is who you know and what they trust you to do for them Every great opportunity in my life came from someone I knew. When I started out going to college I didn’t have a big or important network. No one in my family had even gone to college and the only people I knew with college degrees were my teachers and my doctors. Over the last 26 years though I earned a large and global network by have a really strong work ethic and being the kind of guy people could rely on. I strive to always do what I say I will do and if I fail I work hard to try to make it up to the person I let down. Everywhere I go I make an impact and that eventually gets the attention of other leaders around me. You can too. Remember to make the work environment of the people you are around better and people will remember you. Networking is simple its just helping people. The answer is always “NO” if you don’t ask the question Too many people are afraid to ask for what they want in life. Don’t be one of those people. If you want to date a particular boy or girl ask them. If you want a scholarship apply. If you want to work for someone do whatever you need to do to prove you are the best person for the job. If you never ask it won’t happen but when you do ask you will often find you get what you ask for in life. When Warren Buffet, the billionaire investor, went to Columbia University in New York from Omaha, he asked one of the professors if he could work for him for free. The professor took one look at Warren and said, “Kid, you are too expensive.” Meaning it would take him too much of his time to work with Warren than he thought it was worth. Warren worked hard over his first year to prove himself and when he came back to ask the professor if he could work for him again for free the professor said, “Kid, I’ll pay you.” Warren claims he learned everything he knew about investing from that professor. (note: I never met Warren but I heard this story on a CNBC program that he did for Columbia MBA students). When I was in college I took a course for honors because I wanted to get to know my professors better. After the first semester I had gone through most of my savings so I needed to get a job. One of my friends got me a job working at a research institute she worked at because I asked for her help. It also helped this professor knew my work ethic. Everyday I worked hard to prove myself and I had a great attitude. Before long I was a supervisor and a research assistant. I learned to build mathematical models and write computer programs. Before I graduated from college I had worked on international research projects, helped my professors write books, and gained more skills from that job than I did from any class that I paid for in my major. Don’t just take any job. Ask for the job that is going to make a difference in your life. Ask for what you want. If you don’t get it right away keep proving yourself just like Warren Buffet did. If you ended up with a job working for your professors I guarantee you are going to get more out of your classes. My senior year my professors were lecturing from material I would bring to class for them. Take honors sections whenever possible Honors sections are smaller and taught by professors usually. You are in class with the best students. When I went to school they were graded on a B curve rather than a C curve. Why would you want to sit in a lecture hall of hundreds and be taught by a TA when you can be taught by a professor in a class of 20 students? “What gets measured gets done and what gets measured correctly gets done correctly,” Peter Lewis, Billionaire Founder Progressive Insurance. In 1997 I was given the opportunity to ask the senior leaders of Progressive Insurance how they became so successful. The company had grown from a small brokerage to a Fortune 500 company. The billionaire founder of Progressive, Peter Lewis, told me, “John, what gets measured gets done and what gets measured correctly gets done correctly.” Peter was talking the fact that he measured profitability down to the market manager level so that instead of having one CEO he had 50 CEOs competing to make the company better. This can apply to your studying too. One of the best students I studying with was one of my roommates. He earned a 4.0 at Iowa and went on to be a partner in a public accounting firm. Everyday he would make a to do list to make sure he got done what he needed to that day. One time I saw one of his lists and he had lunch written on it. I asked him why he put lunch on his list and he said well that was something he needed to do and he knew he would be able to cross off. Keep track of how you are doing in your classes. Maintain a calendar so you don’t lose track and get behind. Failing to plan is planning to fail. “If you want to live an extraordinary life then you first have to have extraordinary expectations” - Alan Bauer, Inventor of Selling Insurance On The Internet When I was in college I wanted to work for the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. I was a student of economics and I thought what could be better than working for the Central Bank of the United States. The odds were against me. Over 5,000 students a year apply to work at the Federal Reserve and they only take 30 students. The odds of an economics students from the University of Iowa beating out a student from Stanford or Harvard for one of those positions isn’t too high. Yet, I made myself the most qualified person for the job because I worked four years building mathematical models to pay my way through college, I could program, when I graduated I was name a Collegiate Scholar which is an award given to the top 20 students, I had a personal connection through one of the professors that I worked for in college. With all that I didn’t get the job right away but I made such a powerful impression in my interview that a year later my interviewer tracked me down and I got the job. A few years later I met Alan. I invented a program that enabled Alan to start selling insurance on the Internet right before he gave me that advice. He made an estimated $100 million and became one of the top 3 executives at Progressive Insurance. His division became responsible for billions of dollars of business a year. Alan would add, “Have big dreams and hold yourself to a high standard.” “Look for the biggest problem and solve it because therein lies your greatest opportunity” Frits Seger, Former President Citibank California I caught Frits attention in a class that was sponsored by Citibank because of my work ethic and ideas. Frits was the fastest rising star in Citibank. This began a year long mentorship with Frits that at one point he said, “John, where in the world do you want to work in Citigroup?” I could have worked anywhere I wanted doing anything. I once asked Frits how he became so successful. He smiled and said, “John, people didn’t always think I was successful. When I first started working at the bank I was given the three worst branches in the entire bank. One had rats in the ATM. Another got robbed every Friday at the same time. (I can’t remember what the problem was with the third branch).” Frits said he called people asking for help and no one would return his calls. Everyone thought he was on his way out of the bank. Frits didn’t give up though he turned those branches around and in doing so got a reputation as someone who got things done. He told me don’t take the high profile branch on Park Avenue that everyone is competing for because chances are you are only going to make it a little bit better and might make it worse. He said look for the biggest problem you can find because even a small change could have a big impact and you’ll get a reputation as someone that gets things done. Frits went on to be the President of Citibank Japan, CEO of Citibank Asia Pacific, and Co-CEO of Barclay’s Group, one of the largest banks in the world. He always looked for the biggest problem he could find and solve it. “I spend my money on the things that truly matter” Laurent, Managing Director, Paris Office, Corporate Value Associates I was asked to go to Paris to work on a project for a large French firm that made auto parts. I was excited because I was going to work for one of the top partners in the firm. I showed up to the office and it was just a half a block from the Arch de Triump with Gucci, Prada, and other high end stores all around. The offices were amazing modern glass. Lots of smartly dressed consultants running around, I’m introduced to Laurent and go to the garage pasted a beautiful interior garden. In the garage I see this incredible sports car and I start to approach it. Laurent says, “John, where are you going?” I said “I thought this was your car?” He laughed and pointed to a 15 year old BMW that didn’t even have air conditioning. There we were in the middle of a hot summer day going to the client in a car without air conditioning. When I asked Laurent about it he said, “John, I spend my money on things that truly matter. What car I drive doesn’t matter.” When you feel lost build a road map It’s ok to be unsure about what you want to do. This will happen probably more than once in your life if you are like most people. If you ever feel lost and don’t know where your life is headed or fate has knocked you for a loop, follow this simple method and you can rebuild your life and you may be better because of it. You can use this same method to figure out what you want to major in or how you want to focus your studies. You wouldn’t go on vacation without a road map why would you live your life without one? How to build a road map: 1. Sit down with a piece of paper and write out 100 thing you want in your life without regard to time, money, or ability. Imagine if a genie could give you 100 wishes. 2. Look over the list and star the easy ones because you will do those first to build momentum 3. Then think of 3 to 5 measurable accomplishments you can do to bring the things in your list into your life. For example, find 4 new clients by December 2013 or speak at least 2 times a month by October 2013. 4. Put your accomplishments on post it notes and put them on your bathroom mirror, by your frig, in your car, by your computer, so you are reminded every day of what you are trying to accomplish 5. Get a five subject notebook. Label the section dividers - Career, Health, Relationships, Growth, and Fun. Segment your list of 100 into each section. Then cut out pictures from a magazine that represent each of your goals to you. In each section write out a specific plan including what actions your going to take and what resources you need to achieve your goal. You should be able to get all this done in a couple of days and then take action. Immediately take action. Nothing happens unless you put your plan into action. Don’t be afraid just try. It may not turn out like you expect but you will get closer to what you want in life than if you just remained lost. Find people to help you. Accountability or workout partners. There will always be someone to help you if you look I promise. I have to thank Angelo James and Zig Ziglar for teaching me this method. It works. When things don’t go according to plan don’t worry there is probably a lesson you need to learn or something that you need to do to set you on course. Celebrate your successes! Stand on the shoulders of giants Find the very best people doing what you want to do and reach out to them. Especially when you are a student people LOVE to help students. Find an alumnist that is doing what you want to do and contact them. Be respectful of their time which means do your reach and have well thought out questions ready for them. Here are there that I advise my students to ask: 1. How did you get in this career? 2. What have you learned that helped you become successful? 3. What can a student like myself do to prepare for this career? This is a license to network with anyone in the world. Seriously. You will be surprised at who will speak to you and what can come from asking these questions. I’ve had students who were offered jobs. I had a student that got $12,000 in contracts while still in my class. I had another student that was asked to join a board of directors the owner of his company was invited to join. Worst case you’ll learn something you didn’t know before and you’ll make a new connection. If you take it seriously this can be meaningful. I did it as an assignment in graduate school and my best friend and I met a multi-millionaire who was yet to turn 25 years old. He explained to us exactly what he did to build his company. We learned things we never learned in the classroom. All you have to do is simply ask. It’s that simple. Sign up for LinkedIn and use it to find someone or use Google to find someone who is doing exactly what you want to do. The alumni relations department of your school will have an alumni database. Also you can ask friends and family. I bet if you posted on facebook exactly what you wanted someone would be able to refer you. I wish I had known to do this at your age. Don’t do it for the money - money will come if you do it for the right reasons For a period in my life I chased after money thinking that I needed to make $10 million to do what I wanted to do. To be secure in life. At one point I had $250,000 and was making $20K to $30K a month and I thought I’m on my way. Then I lost everything and ended up with just $85 in my checking account. When I had nothing I decided that I would just do what I wanted to do because I had nothing to lose. Now I do what I want to do and I’m more successful than I have ever been because I do what I do for the right reasons. That sentences has a lot of do dos but you get my meaning. If you are the best at anything you will make plenty of money so not to worry follow your heart. Even if money doesn’t come isn’t it better to follow your passion in life than to do something you hate? After all if we do it right we only live once. These days it doesn’t matter where you live. It just matters who you know and what they trust you to do for them. Surround yourself by the best people you can find because they will help you become who you want to be One of my best friends from college earned a Phd from Harvard and became a professor there. Another earned a Phd in Chemistry from MIT. One of my friends learned Chinese and works all over Asia as the head of Operations for a company. Another earned a law degree from Georgetown. My friends and I would compete to see who could get the best grades. We would talk about studying. I studied more and earned higher grades because of POSITIVE peer pressure. Sure I could have earned high score on Asteroids or Pac Man but I have a feeling I got a little farther in life because I spent my time studying. Surround yourself by the smartest people you can find who are committed to getting the best education possible. Forgiveness is a necessary condition to a happy life People are not going to live up to your expectations. In fact, some people you may care for deeply may some day lie and even steal from you. No matter what someone else does you have to find a way to forgive them or you will carry pain with you. No matter what happens forgive because that will truly set you free. Forgiveness takes the weight of others sins from your heart. Happiness is a choice not a destination I earned a scholarship to study small businesses in Cuba. The average Cuban earned $15 a month. They lived in a place where they had to worry about someone turning them in to the secret police. Yet, somehow they found a way to enjoy life. They had fun and laughed. No matter how bad your circumstances may be they will always be better if you chose to be happy. Find joy in life. If you don’t have joy you could have a billion dollars and still not be happy. Happiness is the goal not money. The more you help other people the better your life and your business will become Pete Bott was one of the four founders of Andersen Strategic Services which became Accenture, a firm that employs 165,000 people around the world. Pete taught me that simple yet powerful message above. No matter what if your making the life of someone else better your life is going to get better. I promise. It’s a law of the universe my friend. If nothing else when you help someone else it builds your confidence. Start something that solves a need...you’ll find that its fun! You learn more from doing than from anything else. Start something that addresses a need. Start a club on campus, start a nonprofit, organize a group of people, start something once you’ve settled into your studies and have a handle on them. Where ever you have a passion apply it. It may seem small at first and that is ok. If you help one person or learn something then its worth it. I learned how to start a business largely through my experience starting a club in graduate school. You can’t waste time without injuring eternity - Henry David Thoreau I used to have this quote above my desk in college. Having fun is not wasting time. Wasting time is feeling bored or having no purpose to how you are spending your time. Don’t waste time as its precise. No amount of money can buy you more time. You will never be able to get back your freshman year of college so don’t waste it. Always think of the opportunity cost of time and spend it wisely. What you do over the next four years is going to profoundly impact the trajectory of your life. Life is the sum of the little thing you do each and every day The sum of little things over time is very powerful. If you study 30 extra minutes a day over the course of a week that’s 3.5 hours. Over the course of a month 14 more hours. You start to get the picture. If in 10 weeks you study 35 more hours than someone else who do you think is going to be more successful on the test? It’s the same thing in everything in life. Just a little bit more of anything over time sums up to a powerful force. “Never ever never give up in anything great or small” Winston Churchill It’s really hard to stop someone who won’t quit. You never lose until you quit. Don’t sell yourself short in life. If you made it this far I applaud your effort and your willingness to listen. You know where and how to find me. After our time together I hope you consider me a friend. I hope to hear from you. I care about you. Kind regards, John Paul Engel Fidel EstradaBryan ChavezLuis GonzalezDuc Ba Vu
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 01:57:39 +0000
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