"When we are passionate about something, quitting is not an option." 

--The Author 

IF your motivation to finish your college degree is to get employed afterwards, again I am sorry to say that you’ve got the wrong motivation. It would just make you end up as another bright, skilled, talented, and unemployed Filipino. 

But don’t let that worry you that much; after all, you are not the only hopeful jobseeker-to-be who has this kind of mindset. There are more millions out there who, like you, don’t think and work out of the box.

During my second year in college, I started to feel better. Little by little, I was able to cope with my mathematics while learning the Art of Proper Thinking. 

Since I was no longer working on my weakness (having found out that I was weak in my weakness and there really was no point to work on it), I decided to work on my strength instead.

And so that year, I made it to being the layout and graphics editor of the Spectrum. I painstakingly worked on every detail of the paper’s design, in the process honing my skills and creativity. 

I would spend at least one hour a week in a bookstore just to read design books and study different graphic techniques. I had to do this because I didn’t have the money to buy books.

During presswork, I devoted two to three overnight sessions to finish the paper’s layout. I went the extra mile to give substance to my position even as I was perfecting my skills. The result was that a year later, I became the paper’s editor in chief.

I must admit that it was the thing I had in mind the very first day I joined the college paper—to be the head of it sometime soon!

That, my friend, is thinking and working out of the bow. If you can't be number 1 or 2, get away from the competition and create your own. Get out. And then explore other possibilities.