What's Missing from a College Degree?

The Primal Skills. 

The Primal Skills are the intuitive and foundational skills we learned to survive and thrive over a million years of evolution. What are the Primal Skills: Situational Awareness, Run/Hide/Fight, Personal Responsibility, and Mental Toughness. These skills move in the opposite direction of the popular safe space culture of college campuses. This is important, because life does not occur in a safe-space.

The bottom line: Train. Train Hard. Train Every Damn Day. Because there are no safe spaces.

Situational Awareness and Run/Hide/Fight.

Stay off the X. If you get caught on the X, then own it. 

Diplomatic Security (DS) operates in the dark and behind the scenes in some of the most lawless places in the world. Their mission: Create space for diplomacy. I learned all about the X during my tour with the Special Projects Team from Diplomatic Security. The X is where bad things happen. The X is dynamic and depends on any number of circumstances. No location  is always safe all the time. A few adjustments to your behavior can make a big difference between becoming a victim on the X or reframing the situation to sidestep the X.    

Personal Responsibility and Mental Toughness

Keep what works. Shit-can the Rest.  --Mark Divine, 8 Weeks to SealFit.

Discipline. Discipline is the foundation of strength and courage. Discipline underpins the humility needed to listen and extend kindness. Look to others for guidance and learn what you can, but the burden is yours. Everyone likes to get outdoors on a warm sunny day. But getting up before the sun to do your daily burpees on cold concrete takes discipline. Always take the hard path and get after it with unrelenting discipline.

Ownership. Who is responsible for Your Successes? Your Failures? Look in the mirror. Nobody owes you anything. Your life is entirely up to you. Breath intentionally, calm your mind, and take ownership of your life.

Resiliency. Can you take a hit? Failure creates space to grow. Own your failures, learn from them, and use them to grow.

Positivity. That burden will crush you if you let it. Look up and own it. Laugh at it. This is the path forward (see The Basics #4 below).

Dress Code. Dress like a professional. This demonstrates respect for yourself and your colleagues. Every moment is an opportunity for a first impression. Is today the day that you run into the President? Or an industry representative makes a surprise visit to campus? Good thing you decided to dress like a professional. 

The Basics. Get your own house in order:

1. Physical. Do something physical, something hard, every day.

2. Fuel. Eat clean. Eat like a Neanderthal. The rest is poison.

3. Hydrate. Drink water. The rest is poison. Weekly "Happy Hours" are the one-way ticket to mediocrity.

4. Breathe. The most undervalued basic requirement. Deliberate breathing counters panic and creates the calm needed to broaden your field of view. This combination of physical breathing and intentional detachment -taking a step back to look around creates space for you to make a deliberate advance from the chaos. 

5. Sanitation/Hygiene. Keep yourself and your surroundings tidy and clean.

6. Rest. Get rid of the time sinks and carve out time for rest and recovery.