Today I was watching a documentary about the Innocent (the smoothie company) story and its founder Richard Reed. A part of the documentary touched about his time at university and the things he did, the people he met.
It made me reflect on my own time in college. Looking back I feel like there are a lot of things that I should have done differently when back in college that I didn’t. Here’s a list.
1) I should have skipped more lectures
College and universities now open up the first instances in our student lives where attendance isn’t necessarily taken. So you can skip lectures without any direct repercussions.
I didn’t skip many lectures because I was under the belief that hey if my parents paid tuition fees for me to attend these lectures that I should go and make the most of it. That makes sense but what I forgot to take into account was how useful these lectures really really were to me.
There were lectures that were really good and useful. And there were many too that were a total waste of time. The kind of lectures where I would go in for an hour and come out not really learning anything that I couldn’t have already read in the book.
Then I neglected one other factor which was the opportunity cost of time. That if a lecture wasn’t useful, I could’ve spent that one hour learning something else on my own or from someone else.
I’m not saying everyone should go and skip every lecture now. I’m saying that my regret is not evaluating which ones are worth skipping and finding out what could be a better use of my time than the one hour spent in a boring lecture where I did nothing.
Think about it. In today’s working world we all often find ourselves in situations where we have to learn things on our own. If we can learn our jobs on our own…. would it be so hard to learn a subject on our own when almost everything is in the text book or online.
2) I should have explored more outside of the syllabus
While I was in college I suffered from one thing: Not knowing what I wanted to do for a living. I told myself that eventually it would come to me and it eventually did.
Looking back now though I realize that I wasn’t really helping my case. If I really wanted to know what I wanted to be, I could’ve spent more time exploring the outside world. Taking part time jobs and learning how other businesses or industries work. Doing more internships… and even talking to more people in the working world.
I didn’t realize that college is a great time for learning and learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom. It happens everywhere.
3) I should have acquired more experiences
I spent a lot of my college and university years playing computer games. I realize now that playing games doesn’t really enrich my life in a significant way in the sense of acquiring new experiences. A game is a game. No matter how many times you play it, the experience doesn’t change drastically. Sure the outcomes change every now and then but not the entire experience.
I wish I had spent time instead joining more student activities, opening up my mind to the world or even traveling on a shoe string student budget.
4) I shouldn’t have gotten into so many long distance relationships
I was one of those students that often got into long distance relationships. When I was studying in KL I had a girlfriend in Penang. When I was studying in London, I had a girlfriend in KL. The list goes on.
Long distance relationships does have its advantages but in my experience I found it to have more disadvantages that advantages. The biggest disadvantage of all is closing yourself to new experiences and when I say new experiences I mean exposing yourself to more relationships so you know what kind of relationship you eventually want when you’re older.
I did love some of my long distance relationships at the time but as I grew older I noticed less and less people became up for long distance relationships and I began to understand why.
5) I should’ve spent more time trying to earn money
My parents always advised me that while I was a student I should spend all my time studying hard and focusing on that alone. It was great for me because that meant I had no expectations of having to earn money while studying (which a lot of other students have had to deal with I’m sure).
But one thing about making money of your own however small is that it makes you realize how hard it is to make money. A sense of how hard our own parents worked to make the money to bring us this far. I wish I had learned how hard it was to make money even a few years earlier than I did when I got my first pay cheque. I think that would have changed my perspective on many things and on money. I would certainly have been a lot more prudent when it came to money my parents gave me for studies.
So these are my personal regrets of my college years. I hope one day I would be able to advise my kids to not have the same regrets I did.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space