College is life changing!
It is a completely different lifestyle than the way we lived when we were in high school. There are a lot of temptations that could come and take over your life if you do not keep your guard up. For instance in college, we stay up later, have more unhealthy food available to us, more party options, and the list continues.
If we do not watch our habits and take control of our lifestyle, then it is possible that college can defeat us before we can defeat it.
When I was in college I learned the “Bruce Lee System to Kicking Butt at Life”. Now as the Director of Expansion at the Student Success Academy and author of “Accelerate Your Success” I have used these ideas that I am going to share with you to inspire thousands of students all across the nation.
But enough about me, let’s get into the good stuff!
Most of us were too young to really appreciate Bruce Lee. A lot of us may have heard of him or watched his action-packed movies with our dads. But not even our parents and grandparents were able to appreciate Bruce Lee since he passed away the young age of 32.
Bruce Lee was a Hollywood and Hong Kong actor who was famous for his martial arts skills and action-packed movies. He took martial art films to a whole new level and made martial arts movies internationally recognized.
Time Magazine recognized Bruce Lee as one of the top 100 influential people of the 20th century.
But what a lot of people do not know about Lee is that he was dedicated to balancing his life and increasing the quality of it. It was obvious that he was committed to physical fitness but most people never knew about the work he did to improve the rest of his life. Lee was a well-rounded individual, as he was also a writer and philosopher, and he continually strove to progress in every aspect of his life.
Bruce Lee divided his life into five different departments: Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Spiritually, and Socially
By doing this, he became in iconic figure around the world and maximized his abilities to entertain and kick-butt! He completed more at the young age of 32 than most people do in a lifetime.
If we break our lives up into these five departments, we too can control our lifestyles and kick-butt at college and life.
Physical-LEE (Physically)
We have all heard of the “Freshmen 15” and seen it happen to people we know. Many students played sports and were extremely involved in high school. But what happens is that they get to college and they are no longer on a team or have daily practices that kept them in shape. They no longer physically exert themselves, ultimately leading to the Freshman 15.
It is important to build a team of accountability partners that help you work out and stay in shape. Join a Zumba club, enroll in a fitness class, or join an intramural team. Find time to work out at least three times a week.
Mental-LEE (Mentally)
We pay for college to exercise this part of our life. It is amazing how much we invest to stretch our mind but we forget to invest in all of the other areas of having a healthy mental lifestyle. Exercising mentally includes reading books, going to seminars, staying active in class, and doing your homework. We should spend two hours a day learning or thinking so we can increase our knowledge.
Emotional-LEE (Emotionally)
Life in general is an emotional rollercoaster and college can either make for a positive ride or dark one. Many students go into depression and/or high levels of stress when in college. College is challenging because you have to deal with huge tests, paying for college, and finding your place on campus.
Find people and a support group that can help you. Find activities that you enjoy partaking in. Find a student group or community of people who have the same beliefs or motives you do. Try to find a way to be at peace within.
Spiritual-LEE (Spiritually)
To improve the spiritual aspect of your life, it does not matter your religion or beliefs are but you must always dedicate time to reflect on yourself and ask yourself if your actions are reflecting the person you aspire to be. Think about your life philosophy and take the time to gather your thoughts. Ways to exercise spiritually include: going to church, meditate/pray, have deep conversations with people, or take a walk.
Social-LEE (Socially)
As college students, most of us actually exercise this part of our lives a little too much. So the challenge is how to manage our social life so we can find time to exercise the rest of our lives. Social life includes going out with friends, parties, sporting events, and going to the movies. I am a true believer that your weekends in college should be focused on enjoying yourself but what worries me is that sometimes this part of our life also falls into our weekdays.
You have to be mature about how you manage your social life because if you do not you could be going out on Wednesdays and Thursdays, which usually causes bad grades and low attendance in class.
College is all about balancing life. A workaholic is just as bad as an alcoholic.
We need to have a social life in college because if we do not, we could miss out on a lot of experiences. A lack of social life can lead to homesickness and depression. There is a fine balance to what makes a good social life. You just have to find out what works for you so that you can work on the other departments of your life.
In conclusion, we must stay conscious about how we manage our time. If you use the 5 LEEs in your life, I guarantee you will be in more control of the outcome of your college years.
At the age of 22, EJ Carrion is the Director of Expansion at the Student Success Academy, which is a modern coaching solution that helps students leverage their education and build a personalized plan to defeat current issues in the economy and their own lives. Also an in-demand professional speaker, EJ has inspired tens of thousands of students and spoken all across the nation. He is the author of Ignite Your Dreams (2010) and Accelerate Your Success (Winter of 2011).
He enjoys rapping and you can check out his skills on You Tube. One of his raps was even used by ESPN.
He graduated from the University of Oklahoma and was initiated into NSCS in 2007.
Connect with EJ at ejc@ejcarrion.com or watch him speak HERE.