Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to hear Dan Schwartz, a Cornell English professor and author, talk about some pieces of advice he gives to college students. As I reflected on the points he made, one aspect that resonated with me was the realization that the advice he gave is valuable not only for college students, but for life and living in general, and perhaps even more pertinent once you’re on your own, post-college. Besides the classic I’ve heard it befores, “plan ahead, study abroad, take classes in the humanities, get involved…”, Schwartz emphasized his three R’s: Resilience, Resourcefulness, and Resolve.  Resilience, Resourcefulness, and Resolve are the cornerstones of success and failure. Everybody is going to have failures and struggles one time or another and sometimes having people you love and having a positive outlook are the only things that hold your head up. It’s about getting back up after running into a wall and not being afraid to take risks and run into it again. It’s about appreciating the good things. As Schwartz said, its not the college you go to that matters, its about what you do. Just like it is not about where you are now, good or bad, it is about what you do and having an open mindset.

Last but not least, his most important piece of advice: laugh a lot. If you’re not, you’re doing something wrong.