Southwestern Advantage Blog

One of the most sobering thoughts I have been confronted with is, "What you are someday going to be, you are now becoming." You are now, this moment, exactly what you have been in the process of becoming all your life. Are you now the person you dreamed about becoming? If you had written down several years ago exactly the type of person you wanted to be today, what kind of person would you have described? How close are you to being that person now? What kind of person do you want to be a year from now? Or two years from now? Or five years from now? 10? 20? Right now you are in the process of becoming the person you will be a year, or two, or five, or 10 or 20 years from now.  The habits you have now will determine the kind of person you will become unless you change those habits now. What attitude would you like to have someday? The attitude you have now is a good indication of the attitude you will have someday, unless right now you begin to develop a new ...

what’s the best way to get better at ping-pong? hitting against a wall won’t do much. playing with your 4 year old nephew will entertain him for sure, but won’t do much for your game. the only way to get better at the sport is to play someone that’s better than you are. period. and so it is with life. if we would like to improve ourselves in a particular area, we’ve got to find people who have mastered whatever it is that we are looking to be better at! ask them questions, observe their behaviors, analyze their attitudes, values, and habits . how do  they  prioritize? how do they communicate? how to they carry themselves? having a mentor – whether an official mentorship, or a more casual one – is remarkably beneficial. not only can we learn from them and the things they have accomplished, but mentors are great to bounce ideas off of (no pun intended). they help us decide where to focus our energy, and they help to keep us motivated and focusing on ...

The following is a paraphrased version of a blog (edited for our audience), originally found on cracked.com. This particular post, written by NYT best-selling author Jason Pargin (aka David Wong ), shares so many similar things that Southwestern Advantage teaches our student reps, we wanted to share a few of his thoughts with our audience. Enjoy. Start doing things that will make yourself become the type of person people want to be around. This is a first step that is nearly always skipped. People ask "How do I get a great job?" and not "How do I become the type of person employers want to hire?" Guys ask "How do I get pretty girls to like me?" instead of "What can I do to become the type of person that pretty girls like?" Maybe the reason is because that second question in both scenarios will very well require facing fears, giving up comforts, and changing your attitudes in life. "But why can't people just like me for me?...