6 Ways to Lead Yourself in College

As summer draws to a close and you trade in your long weekdays on the lake for early morning classes, here are 6 ways you can lead yourself on your college campus:

Practice self-care

You cannot lead others well if you’re not taking care of yourself.

There’s a time to stay up late with friends, and there’s a time to go to bed early. Good self-care will take learning how to discern when it’s time to slow down, spend time with yourself, and just take a nap.

Get to know yourself

Leading up to college, it can be difficult to know who you truly are due to being a part of an environment that has been crafted for you. You didn’t have a say in what high school you went to or what neighborhood you grew up in. Most life-altering decisions were made for you, and that’s intended to be for your own good. You need time and help to develop.

College affords the freedom and responsibility of becoming your own decision-maker. What will I study? Who will I live with? What church will I go to? It’s these decisions that will reveal who you are and who you’re becoming. Get to know yourself by observing how you’re answering the questions that come with life.

Walk with confidence

You don’t have to have life figured out in order to be a confident person. As you discover your God-given identity, walk in it with confidence. You have nothing to prove. Your heavenly Father crafted you with purpose, approves of you, and has intentionally placed you on your campus. Help yourself walk in confidence by preaching yourself these realities.

Do excellent work

Focusing on your studies may be one of the most simple, yet difficult ways you can lead yourself at college. With friendships to form, organizations to join, places to explore, classes can seem like a joy-sapper in paradise. But you’re there to learn, so learn to the best of your ability. It’s the greatest opportunity to make an impact on your teachers and peers, and it’s a lifelong tool that will do you well beyond college.

Serve With Your Talents

Don’t feel like you have to serve somewhere for the sake of serving. Your local church doesn’t need a lifeless you directing traffic in the parking lot. Once you discover where your passions collide with your talents, use that mark as the means to find your space to serve. Nothing is quite as life-giving as combining passion with talent to serve another person. It’s also an excellent way to continue to sharpen whatever craft you’re developing.

Build Community

The key word is build. Finding yourself within the right community takes work. Join a local church. Check out organizations that share similar passions as you. Seek out people you want to be like.

By graduation, you will resemble the people you spent the most time with. Choose these people wisely.