You Cant be the Best Version of Yourself Alone

the moment i came into college

i had to watch enough movies read enough

college confidential

and talk to enough alumni to know that

college is where i was gonna find

my true self i was craving so much to be

independent and eager to not have to

depend on anyone

i’m a fourth year now and i really wish

i didn’t come in with that mindset

for me coming into college i was almost

certain of the path i wanted to take

business and i was going to do

everything in my power to get there as

quickly as possible

on my own despite the seeming lack of

resources i continued to search for ways

that i could grow

through classes books workshops seminars

you name it

so in my winter quarter of my freshman

year of college

when i was able to land a really

competitive marketing internship despite

competing with upperclassmen

i honestly felt like i had made it that

was it

and similar to devonshi i felt like i

had to learn everything myself

i spent hours every day taking marketing

certificates watching youtube tutorials

trying to learn the ins and outs of

marketing on my own and when i finally

landed my dream internship at amazon i

was so excited

and felt like i had achieved that golden

independence and accomplishment that i

was looking for in college

but that feeling quickly went away and

again i felt like i had made enough

opportunities for myself and that was

all there was i didn’t really know how

to grow myself anymore and i couldn’t

figure out what was next

i was going out of my way to find more

professional opportunities and to learn

more

concrete skills but by doing that i was

really missing out on one

big thing building connections with

people to fuel

my own growth both of us felt like we

had learned what we could learn on our

own

i took all the certificates and i read

all the books that i could on my own

and we both had that same question now

what

that all changed in may when i reached

out to amy

for a 20 minute coffee chat the quick

chat

ended up turning into a series of

hour-long calls for the next couple of

months

we shared how difficult it was to find

professional opportunities at a school

that didn’t have a business program

and all of this conversation led us to

realize that actually a

ton of ucsb students faced a similar

struggle

we reached out and met tons of students

with specialized

skills in business entrepreneurship and

design

they were all experts in their own craft

who had so much to offer

and they had so much energy and passion

but nowhere to channel it to

so we created goucher creative uc santa

barbara’s

first and only student-run marketing

consulting group

i alone would have never been able to

start capture creative if you’ve ever

met me i’m a risk taker i take ideas

popping here and there

i don’t plan i don’t outline i strive

off of ambiguity and learn on the way

and what that means is i suck at taking

notes staying organized and i would

always lose track of the details and

chase for that bigger picture

and if you’ve ever met me i love big

ideas but i over plan

almost everything i’m always looking for

concrete structure

and ways i can get there i suck at

letting go of the little details

and i hyper focus on the little things

and i need to make sure that everything

is perfect before doing it

but our talents they synergize together

perfectly

i would bounce ideas off of davonji

pitching new ways we could get clients

how to engage students davanji would

process it and then map that project end

to end so that we would remember

after our four hour long calls each day

and have an actionable plan

by merging our complementary skills

together we created strategies that were

both large at scope

but also detailed in action items and

through gadget creative we’re able to

provide a space

where students can come together to

further their business knowledge and

their provided recruiting support and

professional development unlike ever

before

it’s all about synergy the more

differentiated

talented people you surround yourself

with the more you’re going to learn and

the better you’re going to do

amy and i both felt like our personal

growth was stifled when we tried

so hard to rely on ourselves our goal

was to perfect our craft in

everything and take on every challenge

on our

own and in our mind that was the only

way to succeed

but when we decided to work together we

elaborated to create something that we

could have never

done individually in turn i learned that

i may never be as

organized and detail-oriented as

devonshi but now i’m more confident in

seeing that my big picture ideas could

actually be implemented into something

real

through all of this i found someone to

bounce

crazy ideas off of in a judgment free

zone and in turn i could take my crazy

planning every little detail self and

just make it happen

look for the people that fuel your

talents and are unafraid to learn and

grow with you

and i know everyone just tells you all

these arbitrary things so i want to give

and provide you guys with some

actionable items that you can do and

implement today

so here are three things you can do to

find people that help build that best

version of yourself

so the first most obvious thing you can

do is to find communities that fuel

your own personal growth here’s where

it’s less obvious

these communities aren’t restricted to

your

professional frauds or your dorm room

floor

you can find a community just about

anywhere so think bigger

find online communities for example if

you’re super interested in venture

capital

join the gen zvc slack group yes that’s

a thing

or if you loved thrift flipping get on

thrift talk

once you’re involved in these

communities put the work in get to know

the people

you’re around on a one-to-one level

schedule

coffee chats shoot your shot on

instagram and go above and beyond to

learn

from and with your peers the next thing

you can do is reach out to those people

you admire and ask the right questions

reaching out

to them on linkedin or send them a cold

message share your roadblocks

and personal or professional struggles

appropriately of course

and lean on someone who’s been there to

guide you through what you’re facing now

it can be really intimidating

approaching people you admire so be sure

to do your research on the background

and expertise

and be prepared with questions that

really make them sit back and think it’s

also

super important to remember that

sometimes you’re not going to be able to

find your perfect fit

right away in terms of communities or

people

and that is completely okay in this

scenario you can do

two things number one keep putting

yourself

out there and putting yourself in

uncomfortable situations

because those are the best opportunities

to grow

and number two if you’ve really been

looking a while and can’t find a

community to truly

fit your interests build your own just

like we did

we’re not gonna lie it was not easy at

all but it was

so so worth it nothing was built by one

person alone and similarly you’re unable

to even build that best version of

yourself alone

surrounding yourself with the right

people really accelerates your growth

more than you think it does

and in that process you’ll be able to

meet incredible people and create

something

and feel something bigger than yourself

you’ll meet people that you can

learn and grow with at the end of the

day there’s only so much you can do

and learn on your own you have to

venture out and seek those people

when it comes to your college career

find people that bring out the best in

you

the amazing thing about college is that

you’re meeting so many people

so take the opportunity and make

something you may never

have on your own

you