Staying Fiscally Humble - Battle the "Keeping Up With the Jones' Syndrome"

If you come from humble beginnings – in other words, Diddy ain’t yo Daddy – college is not the time to stray from humble living. College students are broke! Period. It’s not a lucrative time in your life – unless you’re Reggie Bush or Maurice Clarrett, if you catch my drift. Okay, I’m done talking about folks.

Anywho.

Please don’t catch a case of the “Joneses’ Syndrome” (formally known as “Keeping up With the Jones”). If your friends are driving nice cars, don’t do it! If your friends are rockin’ Louies, don’t do it! If they stay in the mall, go to the library. If they have to eat out all the time, ask for specials and roll with a water and an appetizer. Why? College is not the time for you to mount up credit card debt because you just had to have that new purse, those shoes, or rims (trust me). College is not the time to take out extra loans to keep money in your pocket for the mall and fancy restaurants (trust me). College is the time that you stay humble, you eat Ramen noodles, you skip this trip to the mall, you dust off your bus pass. Why? Because 10 years from now, you will be debt free, you’ll own your vehicle, you’ll have A-1 credit, and your checking account won’t be in the red. Humility ladies, it’s the first step to financial success beyond college!

Go forth and save.

It’s Time to Get Ambitious

I get it, not everyone is outgoing, not everyone is straightforward, not everyone is direct. Well, if shy is the persona you want to own, then success isn’t for you. Yes, I said. Sound harsh? Too bad. It’s true. Why? Because, in the real world, opportunity does NOT come a’ knockin’. You have to be willing to go to Opportunity’s door and ring its doorbell. You have to be willing to knock if Opportunity doesn’t answer. If knocking doesn’t work…kick down the door! In all fairness, if you’re not confident about being able to kick down the door, sneak through the window. What’s my point? Professors won’t come up to you. Business owners won’t come to you because you’re shy. You won’t get that job, that contract, that small business loan just because. In the real world, you have to be prepared to tell a Professor that you are determined to do well in their class. When class is over, ask your Prof., how do I do well in this class? When you go to career fair, don’t just settle for the brochures. Ask the folks behind the booth what it takes to stand out as an applicant. Want to start your own business? Go into a business and ask for the owner. Ask them how they did it. Do you want to be the greatest mind of your era? Welp. I don’t have anything for that one, but you get my point! If opportunity and success are on your “to-do” list, getting ambitious better be at the top!

:::Go forth:::Be bold:::You’ve got the key:::Use it:::

What Classes Should I Take?

Right now, many of you are tweeking your schedules and making a few last minute changes. And, I know what many of you are thinking – what is the easiest route to graduation? While I have to respect that and I can admit that I was in your shoes not too long ago, I also have to be honest – you are wasting your time. You’re not in college because it’s the easy route. You’re in college to prepare yourself for the next level. Guess what, that next level isn’t easy. Now, I don’t write that to scare you. I write it to prepare you for the dog-eat-dog world we live in (darn those cliché’s, they never go away). The reality of this situation is that the people who take the easy road out are the people who hit the dead end first. They are the people who never achieve their dreams. The same person they are at 60 is the same person they were at 40, at 20, at 10 and ½. If you don’t push yourself, you WILL get left behind. That much I can promise you. So, why not let college be that time when you start to really push yourself and realize your potential? Take a tough class. You may do well. Start that intramural team. You may have fun. Apply for that scholarship. You may earn it. Run for homecoming court. You may be the first Black girl at your school to win it.

I digress.

College is that time in your life when you can push yourself in ways that you’ll never be able to push yourself again. There are so many outlets; so many opportunities. And guess what, the beauty is, you can fail and still be let off the hook. You’re still a student and the plethora of other opportunities are still there. You’re still figuring out what works, who you are, and what you can be. Moral of the story: push yourself. Where can you push yourself first? In the classroom. Take a class in philosophy. Take an upper level course. Don’t just slide by with typing, physical fitness, and some other remedial course. Why? Because you’ll never push yourself. You’ll always settle. And…that’s a bad look. If success is your goal, then you’ve got to start pushing yourself toward that goal. And guess what? The classroom is a great place to start challenging yourself.

Go forth. Schedule wisely. Keep pushin’. You WILL get there.


Suggested courses:
Scientific Inquiry
Statistics
Africana studies
African American literature
Philosophy
Communication theory
Sociology
Psychology
International Studies