I just finished my last exam for my collegiate career. I’ll graduate on the 22nd and if you’d like to come, feel free - Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ (It won’t be fun and it will be long).
But, I’ve finished college yet I feel as if I’ve accomplished nothing. I felt a greater sense of achievement when I earned my first dollar online, something that seemed to happen almost by mistake.
The rush of finishing, made me think about how useful my degree actually was. Truth of the matter is that I learned more from doing than I ever did from sitting in a classroom, listening as someone lectured to me about how they think things “should” be done.
As I look back on to it I realized that college had attempted to assassinate my innovation and creativity. That conformity and simple absorption of ideas is taught while the skills needed to be successful online are left out. Questioning, understanding, and the exploration of creativity have been lost on the formal world of college.
Many successful Internet Marketers, and Social Media Mavens are youth. They haven’t finished college, never took it seriously, or haven’t even entered it yet. They cling dearly to the childhood imagination, while humming the “Toys R Us” jingle, seeing normal life and thinking “linkbait”. Success has become marked by being carefree, the culture of the Internet (generally inline with that of Google’s) awards new ideas, and disapproves of anyone that takes life too seriously.
Becoming successful truly can be simple, but it can’t be learned from reading and studying. Formal teaching is a thing of the past and lectures have become archaic. Success in this age, especially on the Internet, can only be achieved through experience. Learn through action, grow through mistakes. Make sure to recognize what worked, and what didn’t work. Explore, imagine, and think “what if”. You never know if your idea is the next digg, facebook, or wikipedia.
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