Success by Avoiding Monotony in a Multifaceted World by Emily

Success by Avoiding Monotony in a Multifaceted World by Emily - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

In today's society, it becomes very easy to fade into the deep, dark depths of being ordinary. The world seems to be moving at such a fast-moving pace that advances in technology and ideals can easily blind us from all the different sides of humanity and personality. Since we are always going to be in one body, our own, it may be difficult to see the world in a multifaceted way, acknowledging all the different qualities and lives people possess. As our generation goes through the transition between high school and college, it becomes increasingly necessary in becoming successful to realize these things.

College is similar to a rest stop on the highway, where we step off from our life as a child to move on to our lives as an adult. This area is necessary for students to learn how to push their potential and become self-sustainable adults with good moral values. My definition of leadership skills are learned skills that can help somebody progress in their career life, academics, social skills, and relationships. Although hard work, courage, determination, and creativity are all necessary in succeeding during college, other leadership skills are just as important. Learning how to have an open mind, form a willingness to explore, and an appreciation of diversity will not only help someone succeed in college, but in all aspects of their life.

Without an open mind as a college student, abstract thinking can be a difficult concept to learn. With 7.3 billion people on this planet, an infinite amount of differences, concepts, and ideas exist. An open mind also helps broaden someone's perspective on a subject in school. For example, students in all grade levels complain about how mathematics has no real-life application and that it is useless due to their narrow-minded perspective of math. If students keep an open mind and actively try to find ways math can relate to real-life, students can learn in a more advanced way. For example, learning how to figure out what a graph looks like without a calculator through identifying qualities of an equation can teach a student how to find ways to manipulate situations to find solutions without a certain utility available. With an open mind, students can learn with true interest and fascination rather than memorization and repetition. We can learn with multiple perspectives and succeed by not being so narrow-minded. When the curtains of a window are completely open, more is exposed rather than if the curtains were only half open. Just like knowledge, when a mind is completely open, more of the world can be exposed to them rather than if it was only open halfway.

Another necessary leadership skill is mastering the willingness to explore. Similar to an open mind, lack of a willingness to explore is basically restricting ourselves to only experiencing one aspect of life. Forming a willingness to explore can be difficult, especially in today's culture where stepping outside of cultural and societal norms is an act that can come with social consequences we tend to avoid, posing a threat to our own ability to fulfill our potential and knowledge. If it seemed socially unacceptable to become friends with someone, we could miss the opportunity of learning about this person's differences and what their personality is like. This concept is parallel to several decisions we make in life where we miss opportunities because of how we think it may be perceived by others. If it seems to be socially unacceptable to try new things, enjoy certain activities, and embrace ourselves for who we are, we can easily fall into a dull population of beings that all share the same common interests.

In addition to open minds and a willingness to explore, an appreciation of diversity is one that will help students succeed. In college, we meet many different people. Most of the time, students study abroad in different countries, where they will experience several different cultures. The ability to acknowledge that we are not the center of the universe is a hard skill to learn. Since our lives are what we see every day, it becomes our world, making it harder to imagine that the world is so much more than what we experience. If someone faces all these different aspects of the world and refuses to see that it is just as important as our own lives, it will hinder their ability to be a leader and gain respect for others. Through appreciating diversity and differences in humanity, we can learn to place more importance on universal aspects of kindness, genuineness, and generosity, concepts that are necessary in our success during college and preparing for our future lives.

All throughout college, students are preparing to leave the rest stop and continue on the highway to success as adults. However, acknowledging the diversity in this multifaceted world helps us realize that we are one in 7.2 billion. Many of us are fighting to stand out, which can be hard without having an open mind, a willingness to explore, and appreciating the diversity prevalent in our world. College is where most students' adult lives begin, so it is extremely important to further our knowledge with a well-rounded perspective. After that, we can bring those skills that helped us succeed in college to the real world, where we can learn to be successful on a larger scale as well.