Three Things I Learned in College that I Wish I Hadn't Ignored After Graduation

Please, let me save all college freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and college applicants a lot of distress and heartache. There are some vital things you will learn in college that you will be tempted to ignore when you get out. Don't do it. It isn't worth it. But the weird thing is that the process happens without you knowing it. Here's how it happens.

First, while in class, you hear your teacher, guidance counselor, or career counselor say something you just know will be useful for your entire life. You thank the heavens that you chose that class instead of Massage 101. You take plenty of notes. You don't sell the textbook after class is over, but somehow after you graduate, you develop reasons why, for now, that information won't work. For instance, below are some things I learned that I wish I hadn't ignored. A little more than two years out of school, I hope you all can learn from my mistakes. Think the first thing is obvious? It should be, but wait until you graduate from college. In any case, I'll start with the very obvious and move on to the less obvious.

Credit cards are really bad and can ruin your life. They are much worse than having student loans.
I think I heard this advice in high school, yet in my sophomore year of college, I decided to open my first credit card. In my junior year, I decided I needed to get my very own first car so bad that I would surely find a way to pay off the several hundred I had to put on a credit card to pay for it. After graduating and not getting the job I expected, it all went downhill from there.

You think I'm traveling back and forth to my college for '05 get togethers and visiting my college friends all over the U.S.? Nope. I spend my days trying to figure out how to pay all of this debt. Student loans are a piece of cake, but credit cards are almost like having a baby out of wedlock at a young age. They control your life and what fun you can and can't have.

You have to write down your goals, and they have to be detailed and realistic.
Sounded like a great idea when I heard it. Unfortunately, I've never gotten around to it. I was too busy taking care of the right here and now. It has been said in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that most people spend too much time on the here and now, and not enough time working towards things that may only pay off in the long-term future. It's very important to write down goals. There are too many stories of people who have become successful by doing just that.

Don't chase the money or you'll never get it.
Of course. It's all about chasing the dream right? Do what you like and the money will come, right? Nope. After graduating college and having to pay for loans, apartments, car notes, and what have you, you'll start to only see those circumstances. You'll forget that important sentence you read in a textbook way back in college days, and you'll say, "This job just isn't paying enough." Before you know it, you'll have tried several different careers with no real long-term experience in any one of them. So your resume remains entry-level material.

The overriding point here is that after graduating college, you shouldn't let the circumstances dictate to you. Yes, money runs the world, but it doesn't have to run you. Do the things that bring intangible results, and before you know it, you'll have learned to live above the circumstances and become who you always wanted to be.