College success does not entirely depend upon intellectual and academic skills. You also need life skills to succeed in college, such as personal finance, time and priority management, and decision-making.
The article discusses 8 life skills needed to succeed in college and career, including personal finance, time management, responsibility, independent decision-making, assertiveness, communication skills, collaboration skills, critical-thinking skills, study skills, and creative thinking.
Personal finance
Personal finance refers to money management and making financial decisions. These financial decisions involve making a budget for books, recreational activities, clothes, and other activities. You have a limited supply of money, and it becomes crucial to know where and how much money to spend so that you don’t feel financial pressure at the month’s end.
You can acquire these skills by yourself, consulting life skill advisers, parents, or personal finance courses. You should learn the skills of checkbook balancing, understanding credit cards, making and sticking to a budget, and saving money for a rainy day. These skills are necessary to avoid financial pressure so that you can focus on your studies without worrying about money.
Time management
Time management refers to allotting a certain amount for your daily tasks and finishing those tasks in that duration. It is a very crucial skill for college students as students have many tasks that they need to perform, such as going to classes, homework, assignments, exams, campus activities, jobs, and recreational activities.Â
Managing your time by keeping a schedule becomes vital for a healthy balance between college, job, and life and avoiding mental stress, anxiety, and disappointment.Â
So, to manage time, alot a specific amount of time for each task and keep a schedule. Arrange each task on the basis of priority, i.e., if a task is urgent and important, do it before other task. And finally, stick to that schedule and follow it religiously.
Take Responsibility
Taking responsibility means acting responsibly by doing chores and activities, such as laundry, cleaning the room, making bed, organizing their stuff, etc., without parent’s help.Â
When you move into college, you are alone and by yourself, which means you need to perform these daily chores by yourself for a better and healthier surrounding.
Keeping your surroundings healthy will motivate you further to study and excel in college. To take responsibility, do these simple tasks:
- Set an alarm to wake up early for classes.
- Make your bed in the morning.
- Organize and declutter your room.
- Organize your study materials.
- Do laundry regularly.
Independent decision-making
Independent decision-making refers to making decisions by using critical and creative thinking. Since you are alone in college and away from your parents, you are susceptible to missing classes, partying, not studying, struggling, and having bad finances. To avoid this struggle, you should learn to make decisions independently and wisely so that you can succeed in college and your career.
Colleges offer personal counselors and academic advisers who can help and guide you toward making wise decisions. Make independent and wise decisions that align with your goal of succeeding in college and career. For instance, missing classes and partying every day would not help in college success, so avoid these distractions.
Assertiveness
Assertiveness refers to standing up for yourself when needed and expressing your opinions. There will be many occasions when you may need to express your opinion and stand by them, such as sharing your ideas in group projects, resolving conflicts among roommates, negotiating internship or job offers, etc.
Assertiveness will help you get a better salary or stipends, make invaluable contributions to group projects, have conflict-free relations with roommates, etc.
Communication skills
Communication skills are crucial for college students to build relationships with their professors, classmates, seniors, and other people in the college. Communicating properly with people by addressing them appropriately and being respectful and humble. For instance, you can address your classmate as a brother but not your professor; address them as “Sir/Ma’am.”
Collaboration skills
Collaboration skills are essential for a college student to function effectively in group tasks, such as projects or assignments. You need to contribute and work as a team instead of working independently. Collaboration skills will allow you to work as a team and bring the best of every team member, resulting in a successful group project.
Critical and creative thinking skills
Critical and creative thinking skills are helpful in figuring out solutions to real-world problems. Your college success is not entirely a product of memorizing theories and concept definitions. You need to think through a problem and apply theoretical knowledge to come up with a solution. Finding solutions involves your critical-thinking skills to break down the problem into smaller parts and work on them.
Sometimes, problems test your creative thinking ability, and you may need to think out of the box and come up with a solution. So, creative and critical thinking is essential to gain practical experience with the concepts you learned.
Final Words
Life skills are crucial for your college success. They enable you to take responsibility and make decisions sensibly to achieve your goals. Life skills, such as personal financing, time management, decision-making, and communication skills, are crucial for your professional career after college. You can eliminate stress, anxiety, and disappointments by acquiring these life skills and scoring good grades for a successful college journey.
