Anyone can survive life – all you need to do is eat, sleep, breathe and go to the bathroom. Anyone can manage time – however, you can either do it successfully or poorly. Anyone can be a leader – you can be a strong one or a poor one. Anyone can communicate – you can be effective or misunderstood. Anyone can fulfill his or her future – you can be who you want to be or you can be somebody else.

This isn’t about anyone. This is about you, as a person, a son or daughter, a friend, a father or mother, a student and a moral being. This is about you, and you’re not just anyone, and neither am I. Let me put us on the same page now, since we’re already in the same boat.

A lot of people come into college and join every organization possible. Then again, a lot of people choose not to join any. I find that it is best to choose some, because life isn’t all about chalkboards and homework. Organizations and sports give you somewhere to go to share with other people, to gain knowledge, skills, experiences and to be alive without trying too hard. College life is different than life anywhere else on the planet. But it’s the start of something wonderful… something true to you.

Life is fantastic and wonderful. If you have not found that out yet you are in for a trip. Not a short trip either because life is not short. There are many people who say it is, but life is only as short as you make it. The best way to make your life as long as possible, to make it seem endless, is to simply do what you want and as much as you want. Live each day to the fullest. That is, do more than you’ve ever dreamed of doing because you only have one life to live, one chance to make or break it. There are 24 hours in a day; of which, only an average of about eight are slept through. That leaves you 16 hours to live, learn, breathe, exhaust yourself, relax, play or explore. That’s life.

I definitely think that people too often choose to be lazy and when they complain about not having anything to do, they also complain about their options. I think that is outrageous! What’s the sense in going through each day not having anything important to do? You’re as good as a couch potato.

Here’s what I suggest: Do something. Do more. Do anything. For your own sake, do it now, but don’t do too much. Is that vague enough?

The more you experience, the more things you learn, the more people you love, the more fantasies you endure, the more you try to do, the longer your life will seem. Plus, doctors say that an active lifestyle is healthy and thus will extend your lifespan. Everything that you do is an experience, good or bad. Everything that you experience will take time. That may seem like a very short time or a very long time but that depends on whether or not you choose to be happy with the experiences you have or the decisions you make. It could make your life more enjoyable and more everlasting, or it could give you more things to complain about.

What is your life worth to you? Is it worth trying something new everyday? Is it worth eating right and exercising to remain healthy? Is it worth all the junk food and alcohol that you put into your system during the Tuesday night parties? Is it worth flunking an exam because you decided that fighting with your significant other on a Monday afternoon about the way he or she says the word ‘caramel’ was more important than studying? What is your life worth to you? There is no wrong answer because there is only one person living your life – you.

Just remember that anyway in which you choose to live your life, you will affect those around you. So do something. Do more. Do anything. Just do it now. And don’t do too much. Because one day, you will overwork yourself to the limit and you will feel the roof come down on you. You will overreact to everything and take it out on your friends and family and loved ones. And then, you will feel sorry. We all do it. It’s ok. Just learn to be proactive and take care of it before it takes care of you.

Here’s what I call prioritizing life versus tasks – the 1-Hour Progression, 12-Hour Recovery, 24-Hour Rescue and 48-Hour Escape. Whether you need a short amount of time or an entire weekend getaway, you do what you want to do for that whole time. If it is work that you want to do, shut your door, turn off your phone, sign off Instant Messenger and do work for the full hour of progression. If you need to get away from work, take 12 hours and go somewhere that removes your mind from the stresses of the work you encounter everywhere else. If it is the whole week that is getting to you, take a trip home or a road trip to visit a friend in another state. Use the full 24 or 48 hours as a “getaway from it all.” You do what you want and need to do. Be proactive… but be happy with your decision and smile about it.

Always smile. It will make some people suspicious, others confused and the rest will smile back. Fantastic. Wonderful. You are smiling. You are well on your way. Get to know your life, face-to-face.

EXPECTATIONS

Do you want to know what to expect from life? That’s simple to figure out. You get out of life exactly the same as what you put into it. You might not know it but if you think about it, every one of your actions has a reaction of the same magnitude, whether it be learning something new, meeting new people, or affecting someone’s life. If you are the kind of person who is not active and doesn’t feel like going out with your friends, you are not going to go out with your friends and you are going to be inactive. It is pretty self-explanatory. If you do not give, you will not get. If you do not move, you will not travel. If you don’t like where you are, you should go somewhere else. See, simple!

You can eat, sleep, breathe, drink and go to the bathroom. That is the minimum a person will do if they want to survive (and if you have the means of doing so). If this is all that happens in their entire lifetime, you’ll bet that it is all they will ever do from day one until their time has come.

If you like to write poetry and no one ever gets to read it, are you then dissatisfied that you wrote it? Of course not, because it made you happy. If someone asks you to do something for them and it is going to make them happy, why not be selfless for a while, help them out, and be excited that you made a difference in someone’s life? Do what you like, but when you do it, make sure you put your whole heart into it. That requires some effort.

Putting an effort into living requires some thought. You may think about what you want to do when you grow up. That determines how hard you will work for it. You may think about where you want to live and how much it will cost to live there. That determines what kind of job you get and how hard you work at it to be the best you can be and earn enough money to satisfy your home mortgage payments or monthly rent.

So what do you expect from life? If you want a lot, you better put a lot of yourself out there and try your best to get it. Life isn’t easy. There are not enough shortcuts for everyone to take. There is no high road to success. Everyone is born without any knowledge. Those who want it will study. Everyone is born without the ability to speak a language fluently. Those who want to speak ten languages fluently will practice all ten languages. Everyone has the same amount of hours in a day. Those who want to make the most of those hours will get a good night's sleep, wake up in a positive mood and be ready to do something.

Sometimes it is better to lead. Sometimes it is better to follow. You’ve got to know when to make that choice. You’ve got to expect different results from each perspective. The economy is in perpetual motion, shifting up and down every year. You cannot expect to win the lottery and think that it is all smooth sailing from there on out. You must know that the government is going to keep as much money as possible when they are making out that check.

Taxes add up. Expect it. Leaders fall. Expect it. Everyone has their glory days and their doomsdays. Expect it. After all, you’ll have yours. But if you know what is coming for you, what is there to be afraid of? When you expect a lot and you get a little, you are disappointed. When you expect a little and get a lot, you are surprised and excited. Get the idea?

IT’S A WORD CALLED CURIOSITY

It’s a word called curiosity. Friends, you’ve got to have it. I am one to believe that there is no good reason to go through life and not be curious about Earth’s wonders and its flaws, about people’s actions and reactions, about technological development and the difference in population structures from one area to another. It’s a word called curiosity. How much fun can it be to never question anything, to go through life and accept everything with conviction, to follow society and live within its restrictions?

Have you ever seen or heard of ‘the box’? It’s a box that everyone talks about. It usually comes in the phrase: “Think outside the box.” What I’m asking you is to step completely outside of your shell, take a whiff of the air on the other side of the road, walk in someone else’s shoes, find a new box. Einstein once said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend a little of this mystery everyday. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

What if Columbus hadn’t? What if Washington hadn’t? What if the Dalai Lama hadn’t? What if Einstein hadn’t? Too late, they did it. And so can you. Find a new box. Dig deeper. Jump higher. Stretch your brain. It’s a word called curiosity.

Imagine that you were the first to create Microsoft or Ford or the Rubik’s Cube. I know that you have that ability and you have those great ideas. In fact, we all do, but most of us put them in our box for later. Then we see a similar idea come to life and we say, “That was my idea.” Not anymore! It’s still in your box. Open up your box… what else is inside it? Use this box to store memories, to maintain knowledge, to satisfy your sanity and to brainstorm new ideas that you can take out of the box. It’s a word called curiosity. Find a new box. Answer your own questions. Implement your own ideas. Get people involved in your own vision and share a prosperous and exciting future. We all turn on our light bulbs occasionally. We all say, “I have a great idea!” every so often. But a great idea is only great if you do something with it. Otherwise, it’s just an idea in your box. It’s a word called curiosity. Find a new box.

THE BEGINNING, THE END, AND THE JOURNEY

No matter who you are, what you do, where you end up, when things happen, why you exist and how you react to life itself, nothing matters more than your journey. The journey is more important than the start or the end. It’s my Four-L Theory. In everything that you do, find the Life-Long-Lesson-Learned. That is the only reason that I can say I am who I am, I do what I do, I am where I want to be, things occur when I want them to and all of this is because I answered the “why” question and found out “how” to do it all. That’s pretty vague, but this is an article, not a book.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do most things, but there is no right or wrong way to be you. Answer the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of anything that is important to you and I can assure you that there is a Four-L behind it all. Forget how and where to start. Forget the end result. Just realize everything that happened to you in the middle, during the journey. The journey is going to be the deciding factor of where you end up anyway.

Consider two cars, one mile apart, driving 100 miles per hour directly toward each other. If you make a slight change in the direction of one of them, what happens? I don’t think I have to draw it out for you. They miss each other. It’s just like your journey. Every step you take forward is progress and vice versa. Each of these steps, however, will determine your future. That’s the importance of your journey. That is today’s Life-Long-Lesson-Learned.