It’s all about your future

College education is one of the ways young adults prepare to enter the world of work. In fact, almost everything young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-three do will influence the job they get and their start in life. This is a critical moment. It is the time when students chart the path they will take into the future and do the activities that can get them there.

Unfortunately, some students don’t think much about their future. They don’t think about who they are, where they want to be after college, and how they’re going to get there. That is an error. When you have no idea where you would like to be when you graduate from college, the likelihood that you will prepare properly is very small.

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by avoiding it today.” – Abraham Lincoln

How can you maximize your future? Here are five things that can help ensure your future is bright:

Preparation – Great preparation is the key to success. Students who know the future they want for themselves must devise a plan to achieve the steps and goals. By thinking carefully, identifying what it takes to achieve goals, and gaining skills and resources, students can greatly improve their chances of success. Since few people are really successful at improvising, a lot of preparation makes a lot more sense.

Education – A quality education will open doors, while a poor education will work against graduates graduated but with little education. The best employers hire people who are already well educated. They are not willing to hire students who need to be reeducated to bring them up to speed. That is why wise students do their best to learn as much as they can, do their best work, and are ready to show that they are fully qualified.

Sir Francis Bacon said “Knowledge is power.” And so the opposite would be “Ignorance is weakness.” In this information age, students who chose not to do their best in their field of interest may well have condemned themselves to a life of missed opportunities and disappointments.

Don’t become a graduate with little education and no future. Instead, starting right now, rededicate yourself to getting the best education that your capabilities allow.

Experience – There is no substitute for first-hand experience. Students who want to get a good job upon graduation must find ways to gain practical work-related experience as they progress through college. That experience can come while working with a teacher on a project, a part-time job, a cooperative assignment, a work-study program, or a summer job.

Interviewers love meeting students who can talk about their successes and experiences at work. They look for students who accept responsibility for the quantity, quality, and timeliness of their work. Therefore, students must find ways to get work experience that will impress employers.

Determination – This is one of the best indicators of how much you care about your future. Determined students make things happen, they get things done, they solve problems, and they won’t let anything stop them.

Students with a strong inner drive will always have an advantage over students who see little reason to advance, do more, or improve. They have a little voice telling them to try one more time, go ahead and find another way. Determined students have strong reasons for being successful, reasons that make them want to achieve better results than expected.

If you want to improve your chances of a successful future, make a list of the reasons that are important to you. Keep them where you see them every day. Then use those reasons to increase your determination to do the best you can.

Results – Like employers and interviewers, you too should be concerned about the results you get. Your results are essential for your future. That’s because you will be judged on your results. Employees who can get things done, overcome obstacles, and make things better are almost certainly guaranteed success.

“The opportunity to achieve is available to everyone.”

You are more likely to take control of your future when you pay close attention to these five elements of success. When you focus on preparation, your education, experience, determination, and results, you are doing the things that will get you into the future you want. However, if you don’t emphasize these elements, you will find that you end up with a future that is quite different from the one you have dreamed of.