7 Important skills to master before leaving college
Every student needs to know how to manage their life before stepping into adulthood. Here are 7 important skills to master before leaving college and starting adulthood.
Moreover, the study stress that amounts to a college student is also immense and overbearing at times. Hence, these skills may be slowly built up during your college days.
It is important to utilize your time in college wisely to build up essential skills and socialize more. This is when you have a clearer view of life, and you are able to pursue things that are of your interest to you.
7 important skills to master before leaving college
1 – Learn to relax and destress
Starting the list with self-care. Learning when to relax and rest is essential for when you enter the workforce and start managing an adult life. You will be swamped with new responsibilities, problems, and worries. Hence, knowing what helps you to relax is essential.
It is important to know when you are slowly burning out and what you need to do to recover from the burnout. This may differ from person to person, you may enjoy a long walk at the park, while others may find comfort in staying at home all day just doing what makes them happy.
2 – Controlling and resisting your impulse buying
As college students, maybe you are working part-time, maybe you are still taking an allowance. Either or, it is always good to start practicing resisting your impulse buys and learn to separate wants and needs.
As you grow up, you will have more things to manage, and one huge aspect will include finance. The art of resisting these impulse buys stems from self-discipline.
You may choose to adopt the following tips when you are about to impulse buy
- Save it to cart and revisit the item after 1 month
- If you are still keen and drawn to the item, you may wish to proceed, else more often than not, you might find yourself forgetting what you even carted in the first place.
- Calculate your expenses for the month and ask yourself if you are able to afford this purchase
- Have you treated yourself recently with another impulse buy?
- If you have, perhaps you can choose to skip this item, for the time being, else if you haven’t been doing much for yourself lately, you are more than welcome to treat yourself to a little something.
- Ask yourself if it is a need or want. Do you see yourself actively using the item? Will you still be drawn to it after a long time?
3 – Finance management
As mentioned in point 2 about impulse buying, finance management is extremely important as you step into adulthood and the workforce. With a consistent income inflow, you might want to learn how to manage your finances well. Set aside money to save, spend and invest to your wish.
Learn to manage your finances when you are in college by knowing when to spend money and when to assert self-discipline and control needless purchases.
4 – Communication and networking skills
When you are in college, expose yourself to networking opportunities, meet new people and make new friends. Listen to others’ viewpoints and connect with them in seminars, events, etc.
Once you enter the workforce, these communication skills will come in handy when you meet new bosses and business partners. With the right skills and things to say, you will be able to leave others a good first impression and potentially open yourself up to more opportunities.
Networking is also not just meeting these people once, it is also about keeping in touch after the meeting. Occasionally sending a message to ask about their day to always keep in touch. You will never find yourself short of a connection at the end of the day.
5 – Managing your health
Create new healthy habits such as getting some form of exercise into your everyday life and bring it to your adulthood where you will need it more than ever.
Watch what you eat and learn what to abstain from time to time. Your body and health is your wealth, and only the ones who can succeed in life know that nothing beats a healthy body.
6 – Learning to think ahead and have backup plans
Always think ahead and make backup plans if the current one does not work in your favor. It is always better and okay to think of situations where it does not work out.
Read also: 4 Useful and Effective Time Management Tips for Students
7 – Ability to create healthy habits to bring into your adulthood
Create a series of habits that you want to bring into your adulthood by working on them now. Some of these habits may include simple things like making your bed the first thing you get up. Here are some healthy habits you can consider creating:
- Making your bed once you get up from your bed
- Not checking your phone the first thing when you wake up
- Drink a cup of water the moment you wake up
- Clean up after yourself such as washing the dishes as soon as you are done
- Make a to-do list before you begin your day’s work to have a clear overview of what you will be doing for the day
And so many more! These habits can be changed and altered according to your lifestyle. Make small conscious efforts to create these healthy habits for your adult self.
In conclusion, it will get overwhelming when one day you find yourself swamped with responsibilities and new things to worry about. Hence, always remember to take life easy and take care of yourself.
