TRANSCRIPT: Creating Your College Bucket List: Explore, Experience, Succeed

Speaker: Jullien Gordon

Creating Your College Bucket List: Explore, Experience, Succeed

Hey, it's Jullien Gordon here; and today I want to talk about how to maximize college and minimize your debt. I want to show you how to hustle smarter instead of always hustling harder. I graduated from UCLA in 2003, and I graduated in three years using the principles that I'm going to share with you today. One of the main principles I'm going to share with you is the other 4.0. I know you've been focused on the old 4.0 since junior high school. Today I want to show you the other 4.0, which is going to determine your success all throughout life.

Life After Graduation

I spend my life traveling the country to dozens and dozens of colleges, speaking to thousands and thousands of college students to share this message. And the reason I do that is because I have two little brothers - one that's four years behind me, and one that's six years behind me.

And when we were at the youngest brother's graduation and all the family was sitting in the upper deck, we saw all the graduates on the ground floor of the basketball arena; and we could see the top of their hats. I looked down and I saw one graduate's hat say, Hire me.

And it was at this moment that I realized that higher education wasn't leading students to getting hired. Despite the fact that my little brothers and I had the same exact resources growing up, we were experiencing life after college in a completely different way. They both graduated unemployed, whereas I graduated with job offers readily available. And something happened in that four-year and six-year period that drastically changed. And I want to give you the tools and information you need to prepare for that change.

The Value Of Your Degree

Every year, thousands and thousands of college students graduate with this expensive piece of paper that we call a college degree. And they graduate with major debt and minor capital. And guess what? Even if you put that piece of paper in an expensive picture frame, it doesn't make the piece of paper any more valuable. What's going to determine the value of that piece of paper is what you do to get it. It's going to be what you do between orientation and graduation, that's different than the rest of your peers, that's going to determine the value of your college degree come graduation.

The 4-Year Stepping Stone

Now, this is what the lifespan of an average man and woman is supposed to look like. You see this black area; that's your sleep. One-third of your life is just gone to sleep. Then you have the yellow area, which is your free time. You have a lot when you're little; you have very little when you're a working professional and parent; and then you're supposed to have this big chunk at the end called retirement. What we're here to focus on is that four-year green space; that's your college experience. And we want to make sure you use your 4-year experience to position you for your 40-year career because college is a 4-year stepping stone for your 40-year career.

Career Paths

Now, typically when we think about careers coming out of a college, the first careers that come to mind are teacher, doctor, lawyer, engineer, businessman or businesswoman. And while these five particular career paths are prestigious, they aren't the only career option that you have. In fact, there are thousands and thousands of career options that you have as a future college graduate. And we want to make sure that you explore all of those options because if you take the same five paths that everybody else across the entire country is taking, then what is that called when everybody is taking the same road at the same time? That's called traffic. And I want to make sure that you avoid traffic so that you can get to your desired destination.

The Easy Road

Growing up, we were all taught to take the easy road which is be good, get good grades, go to a good college and get a good job. And I have to admit that I was on that path too, doing just the bare minimum to get by and be good enough. And for our parents, they could take the easy road; and everything was going to be all right. See, when they were growing up and they were in high school, all they had to do was out-compete the person on their left and their right in their high school classroom and they were going to be okay. They were going to be able to own a home, have a Toyota Camry, and have two and a half kids. Why two and a half kids? Because that's the average.

For me growing up, for my generation, I had to out-compete all the students in the state of California in order to get into one of the better UCs. And because of my AP scores, my SAT scores, and my GPA, I was able to get into one of the better UCs. And I went to UCLA, where I graduated in three years.

For you, the game has changed even more. You are now competing against everyone in your age group in the entire world. I'm going to repeat that. You are competing against everyone in your age group in the entire world. You see, Google's mission is to make the world's information universally accessible to all people. And so just because you're in the United States or Canada doesn't give you a leg up because everybody has access to the same information at the same exact time. That's what globalization is because today the world is flat.

When I was growing up, I had an Encyclopedia Britannica set at home. So if I had a book report to do, I could run downstairs, reference the book and then write my report. Today, everyone has access to the same information at the same exact time. So you don't have a leg up because information is universally accessible to all people.

Two Types of Smarts

So in order for you to succeed in this world, you need two types of smarts. You need book smarts, which is measured by your GPA; and you also need street smarts, which is how you navigate uncertainty and navigate the real world. And that's going to be measured by the other 4.0. It used to be that you had book smarts or street smarts; and in today's very uncertain world, you're actually going to need both.

The Hypotenuse Of Higher Education

When we're taking the easy road, we're talking the direct path is the best path. And I call this the hypotenuse of higher education, which is class to dorm; class to dorm; class to dorm; party, party, party; class to dorm; class to dorm; party, party, party. And when we go through college in that way, we're doing just enough. We're doing the bare minimum to be good and get by. And when you're taking the easy road, I guarantee that in today's world, the easy road is only going to lead you to a dead end. Instead I'm challenging you to take the road less traveled.

And when you see the road less traveled, it looks longer; and it looks like it's going to put more mileage on your vehicle. But in the real world, that mileage translates as experiences. And you're in college not just to get education; you're also here to get experiences.

And when you move through college in this way, where it's beyond just class to dorm, class to dorm, party, party, party, but you're actually taking advantage of all the space and opportunities in-between classes, then you start paving your own road. You start living your life very intentionally. You start taking responsibility as an adult. You don't push that off until once you graduate. You start living and designing the trajectory of your life right here and right now.

The Other 4.0

So now I want to introduce you to the other 4.0 that really matters. And this 4.0 is going to determine your success all throughout life. You see, the other 4.0 GPA that you've been focused on, after the age of 25 is going to evaporate off your resume. This 4.0 is going to determine your success throughout your entire life. And that is your personal capital, your intellectual capital, your social capital, and your financial capital. Two are internal and two are external, and let's go deeper into those.

Personal Capital

Your personal capital is how well you know yourself. This is your strengths, your self- awareness, your unique character traits. These are the type of things that you get from Myers Briggs or What Color is Your Parachute or the Gallup Strengths Finder. And knowing these things is important because they shape who you are. Now, when I look at you, I can't see these things. All I see is another college student. Because these things are internal, only you are aware of them. And so if you are a college student and you can't really articulate who you are, then I challenge you to go take the Gallup Strengths Finder, which you can find online. It's a book that has an online code, and it will give you your top five strengths in life. Or go to your career services center or counseling center and ask for a code for the Myers Briggs test.

Intellectual Capital

The next form of capital is your intellectual capital. This is what you know. This is your skill mastery or your subject mastery. Now here's the funny thing. A lot of college students graduate from college with no intellectual capital. And I know it sounds crazy, but watch this. If you ask most college students upon graduation to lecture for one hour on the graduation stage on whatever it was they said that they were majoring in, most of them couldn't do it. Why? Because we cram for exams; and the moment we head for the door, what happens to all the information? It disappears. So a lot of college students are graduating with no intellectual capital, and that's what's going to give you a leg up.

Now, what you want to be smart at may not be related to your major. But I should be able to go into your dorm room and see a shelf full of books related to some sort of subject or a skill that you are seeking to master. So my challenge to you is to identify one or two things that you want to master and dedicate one hour a day to mastering that in the same way that you are preparing to graduate with your particular major.

Social Capital

The next form of capital is your social capital. This is who you know and who knows you. This is your networks up, down, across and out. Now, most college students, they only networks across. If I look in your cell phone, 95% of the people in your cell phone are probably in your peer group. They're your friends on Facebook or in real life. The other 5% are probably mom, dad, grandma and grandpa.

Well, the most important form of networking that you could be doing right now is networking up. And that means networking with professors who are going to write you letters of recommendation, faculty, staff, alumni, professionals, and community leaders. You want to know the person who's on the other side of the door that you're trying to get into. Your friends can get you to the door, but you want to know the person who actually has the key. And that's why networking up is so powerful. One relationship upward could be equivalent to 100 relationships across.

So my challenge to you is to reach out to three alumni who are doing what you want to do professionally and seek to have an informational interview with them. Not trying to interview for a job. An informational interview is going to meet with them to learn more about what they do and see if that aligns with what you ultimately want to do with your life.

Financial Capital

And the final form of capital is your financial capital. And it's a tricky one, so I'm going to break it down for you. It's who knows that you know what you know. Your financial capital comes at the intersection of your intellectual capital and your social capital. So the reason I get paid to speak at different colleges across the country is because the right people at those organizations, my social capital, know that I know a lot about helping young people succeed, that's my intellectual capital; and when those two things intersect, financial opportunities flow.

So for those of you out there seeking to get a job, if you know the right people in the company, and they know that you know a lot about something that's going to help their business move forward, then that's going to lead to a job opportunity, which is going to lead to more financial capital for you.

So I have two challenges for you when thinking about growing your financial capital. The first is to get an internship. Whether you are a freshman, sophomore, or junior, I encourage you to get an internship. And that could be during the summer or during one of your semesters.

The other challenge I have for you is to sell something and make a profit. Whether you're seeking to be an entrepreneur or not, the process of selling something and making a profit will help you think about your financial capital and grow it in a different way.

Maximize Your College Experience

So here's how you maximize college. Your campus has its own capital. Your campus has intellectual, social and financial capital. And you want to use their stuff to grow your stuff so that you graduate more valuable than you are today. So when you think about your campus, their intellectual capital includes your classmates, your professors, online databases, libraries and research. You want to use that stuff; that's what you're paying tuition for.

In terms of their social capital, that includes alumni networks, student groups and speakers that come to campus like myself. You want to maximize those opportunities to grow your social capital.

And then when it comes to the financial capital, there are scholarships, there are grants, there is financial aid, and there is equipment. Now, you have access to a college that other people would have to pay for. So you want to use those things to grow your capital so that you graduate more valuable than you are right now.

Final Question

So I'd like to leave you with this final question. How would you spend four years of space in time if you knew that your life depended on it? Imagine that I was going to fund you for four years, and you could do whatever you absolutely wanted. But you knew that how you spent your time during this four-year period would determine the trajectory of the rest of your life. Would the trajectory of your life go like this? Would it go like this? Or would it skyrocket?

So what I'd like to invite you to do right now is to take out a piece of paper so that we can walk through this quick exercise.

Create Your List

So what I'd like to invite you to do is to write down all the things you would do with those 4 years of space and time that you knew would help you determine your success going forward. In my book 101 Things To Do Before You Graduate, you will find things like Study abroad, learn a foreign language, create a website, buy business cards, make a portfolio. These are all things that I know will help you succeed going forward. So just take a minute and just jot down other things that come to mind that you know will help make you successful not only in graduation from college, but also in your life going forward.

Check Your List

So in conclusion, I want you to take a look at the list that you just wrote down and look at the way that you're spending your time in college right now and see if there is any gap. And if there is a gap, I challenge you to start closing that gap by checking off everything you wrote down on that list, one by one by one. Because you know and I know that the things that you wrote down on that list are going to determine your success not only in college but also in life.

With that, I want to say thank you for your time and attention. I wish you the best on your journey to graduation and beyond. Take care.