Maximize Your College Experience : Get the Most Out of Your College Experience for Success Now and In the Future. Timothy Skjellerup

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      Timothy K. Skjellerup II

      Why You Need to Read This Book!

      Hi, my name is Tim Skjellerup, and my goal is to help you get the most from your college experience. I’m not just talking about good grades, although that’s one aspect I will help you with. I’m talking about the whole show. Grades, social life, relationships, networking, and the like. You need to read this book from cover to cover because of one word. It’s “experience.” You should read this book because of the experience that I have to offer you. It’s been said that “experience is the best teacher”; I think that’s nonsense. I agree with James Malinchak when he says that it’s other people’s experience that we can learn the most from. And lucky for you, I have had plenty of experience as a student. I have had five different majors and have attended two different community colleges, a state school and a private Ivy League school. I have been a full-time student, part-time student, and an online student. I have lived on campus and off campus. I have dropped out, almost failed out, been on the president’s list, and graduated with honors.

      I first attended college right out of high school and then returned as a “nontraditional” student with a family after serving in the active-duty United States Marine Corps. I completed my last two years of college as a “nontraditional” single parent while training for an Ironman triathlon, wondering how it would all come together.

      I don’t know where you are in your academic pursuits. Maybe you’re a brand new college student right out of high school and you’re not quite sure what to expect. Perhaps you’re a returning veteran after serving on active duty or reserves. You could be going part time while working full time with a family at home. You could be a single parent struggling to keep it all together, or an athlete trying to find a balance between achieving excellence in your sport and winning academically. You may be struggling with a learning disability or substance abuse and on the verge of dropping or failing out. Or you may be viciously fighting for the top 5 percent spot in your graduating class. It is possible that you are just bouncing back from a horrible life tragedy or you’re trying to reinvent yourself.

      Friends, I’m here to tell you that if you’re in any of these situations, I know how you feel; I’ve been there, seriously. And wherever you are, my goal is for you to finish this book empowered with the tools and techniques necessary to identify, envision, and achieve whatever it is that you put your mind to, regardless of your past academic performance or your current life circumstances.

      It doesn’t matter what your past looks like or where you came from. It only matters where you are going and what the vision that you hold for the future looks like.

      I realize, and I hope you realize, how precious your time is. Because of that I’m not going to waste any of either of our times filling this book with a bunch of fluff or theoretical bull crap. You are going to get real life examples of applicable techniques and action steps that you can implement into your life right now that will help you become the best that you can be in all aspects of your life.

      So, long story short, you need to read this book because I have made a tremendous number of mistakes and I have learned from them. I have done it the wrong way and come back and done it the right way. I have spoken with and interviewed some of the most successful students and most brilliant professors and advisers in the country, and their input is included in these pages. I have made really bad decisions and done things that have royally screwed up my life in and out of college. And I have brought it all back together in order to achieve my goals and attain a level of success that I could only dream of. For over a decade I have been studying the habits of some of the most successful people in the world, applying those principles to my life, and receiving extraordinary results because of it. I want to share what I have learned with you now so that you can experience the feeling of setting and achieving big, audacious, awesome goals. My hope is that you can avoid some of the pitfalls and mistakes that I have made in my life and apply the principles of success that I have applied in my own life to your situation.

      How to Use This Book

      This book is designed to be a guide to help you navigate your life and get the absolute most you can from your college experience to ensure a successful future. I recommend reading through the entire book cover to cover. The concepts enclosed are designed to build on one another and therefore are most valuable when applied together; however, like I said before, time is valuable, so if you find one exercise is more applicable to where you are in your life right now, spend more time on those key points. If you feel your goals are a bit foggy or nonexistent, jump forward to the goal-setting section, etc. Not every tip, trick, and piece of advice will be applicable for your specific situation, so do what works best for you. There is no one best way to do anything. For example, the study techniques that will help me finish the semester with a 4.0 may drive you bonkers and be ineffective, landing you with a 3.0—or vice versa. Although a 3.0 is still respectable, there is a big difference between a 4.0 and a 3.0. The important concept here is that you are in a habit of studying in the way that is most effective for you. I don’t want you to get in a groupthink rut with this book. There is not a right way or a wrong way to apply the concepts in it to your life. The important thing is that you apply them in a way the works for you. Enjoy the journey and never give up.

      Section One: The Power of Self-Realization

      “It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.”

      — Anonymous

      I want to ask you a question: did you come to college or are you considering going to college to get on academic probation and fail out?

      Of course not, that would be crazy, right?

      OK, now let me ask you this: did you come to college planning to maintain a 4.0 average or graduate with honors and land the internship or job of your dreams or transfer to the school of your choice?

      If your answer is not “Yes!” why isn’t it? It should be.

      If you’re not expecting excellence from yourself, then what are you expecting?

      You see, the funny thing about books like this is that a certain type of person reads them. For example, if I were to write a book about becoming a more effective parent, who do you think would read it? If you guessed “good parents,” you’re right!

      So when you release a book about maximizing your college experience to set yourself up for success, chances are the people reading it are already success-minded people. So I want to congratulate you for making the conscious decision and taking the action to pick up this book and make the commitment to self-improvement. Now stick with it and you won’t be disappointed.

      Earlier I gave you a bit of a history of my college experience, so let me break that down a bit. I will start with my speaking bio, which is used to introduce me at the beginning of my talks to college and high school students.

      As a financial adviser, author, entrepreneur, personal trainer, and wellness coach, Tim Skjellerup has helped hundreds of people set and achieve goals in all aspects of life. His sound guidance and encouragement have enabled individuals and audiences to overcome personal obstacles and reach their true potential. СКАЧАТЬ