Use college to become a real and powerful student
Have you ever thought about the real meaning of being a student? The curiosity, humility, and passion from a real life-long learning are inspiring to me. By being a humble student, you can learn from the best and create wonders.
However, based on my observations, most college students are not curious nor humble. Heck, most people are not actually curious or humble. But if you are serious about creating an extraordinary life, there is not better place to improve this super power of humility than college.
Why should we be humble? Because is there always more to learn. You probably already know that my favorite kind of learning is to model people who already accomplished what you want to achieve. Nathan Chan, the founder of Foundr Magazine, shares the same attitude. Since it’s start in 2013, Foundr Magazine has interviewed many of the most iconic entrepreneurs in the world and gained more than 250,000 subscribers. Nathan attributes a big part of his success to learning from other really smart founders and people who inspire him. To put it simply, Nathan said, “I just flat out learn from them.” At the same time, he points out that it’s easier said than done because it takes networking, building relationships, and providing value to the other person first.
We are not talking about them being shy and avoiding eye contact kind of humility. That is outward humility that many people in the world have. But there is a big difference between being outwardly humble versus inwardly humble.
When you think of Michael Jordan, he might appear to be one of the most confident and even cockiest guy you know. He is not at all outwardly humble. However, his coaches have a different perspective. In the book Michael Jordan: The Life one of his coaches remarks, “I’ve never seen a player listen so closely to what the coach said and go do it.” So, if you wonder about the secrets that made Jordan into arguably the best basketball player in history, his coach just told you. First, the ability to listen. Second, go do it.
However, most people respond in a way that is the opposite of what Jordan does. They are outwardly humble, but inwardly cocky. You don’t believe this? Ok, you can test out your level of humility by answering the following questions. Rate yourself on a scale of 0–10, average them out, and get your “Net Humility Score” (a phrase coined by Tai Lopez).
- How many mentors have you tracked down to help you with whatever goal you’re trying to accomplish?
- How many times have you asked for help from experts?
- How many nonfiction books have you read in the past year?
- How many interviews or podcasts have you listened to on the areas you want to improve?
- How many seminars or conferences have you attended in the past year?
If you are like most people, you probably have some very low numbers. And it will continue to be this way until you decide to set a different standard for your level of humility, in comparison to the rest of the world.
Now let’s look at an epitome of humility from one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time — Sam Watson. There’s a great story about how humility landed Sam Watson in a Brazilian Jail. There was once a group of Brazilian businessmen who sent letters to the heads of the top ten U.S. retailers asking to come visit and learn how they did business. Most of the U.S. companies ignored the letters, and the few that acknowledged the Brazilians said, “No.” However, Sam Walton said, “Yes.”
Sam Walton invited them to his hometown in Bentonville, Arkansas, and, when the Brazilian businessmen came, Sam ended up answering their questions with far more questions because he wanted to see what he could learn from them.
The story gets even better. Sam Walton later went to Brazil to visit the businessmen and ended up getting arrested in the process. The cops thought he was suspicious because they found him on his hands and knees measuring the amount of space between the aisles at a grocery store. They thought he was nuts, so they locked him up. In fact, he was just always studying the competition and was always “on,” and willing to dig in and get dirty.
Even though he was one of the richest men in the United States, Sam Walton was humble enough to get on his hands and knees measuring things because he understood that there was always more he could learn.
Even the smartest people in the world recognize that this world is simply too vast for them to have a complete understanding of it. There’s a reason both Bill Gates and Warren Buffett both said that if they could choose any superpower, they’d choose the ability to read faster than anyone else in the world. They see that there’s still so much they have to learn, and if that’s the case for them, it definitely holds true for me and you as well.
I am not going to repeat why it’s important for you to read more books and watch more interviews and things like that. That should be a given by this point. I want to encourage you to raise the bar and start to go to conferences and seminars. First, because immersion is the best way to learn. Second, you will make great connections with people who are also humble, driven, and share in similar interests. Third, you might meet your future mentors. The psychological distance at conferences and seminars is one of the shortest, because you are attending alongside of the people who are much more successful than you; you are all in the audience together.
I have spent more than 1,500 hours at seminars and conferences. In addition to the incredible content I have learned, I made some of my best friends, mentors, and connections there. I have skipped classes and exams to go to seminars, because I know which one gives me more value and growth for the time spent.
Embark on this journey of being humble AND hungry, you might discover a different “you,” if not a different world.
