College is a new opportunity to completely rebuild your reputation.
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Students are finally free from their parent’s rules and are surrounded by a completely different group of people in a brand new place. The options are endless, and possibly for the first time a man is now making decisions completely on his own.
It’s important to remember that a man’s reputation is one of the most valuable tools he has, yet sometimes men accidently build a reputation that does not accurately represent their true values. Your reputation will be vital when looking for jobs, starting a family, or applying to graduate school. What you do in college will come back to you.
The Pressure
Men come into college wanting to be like the characters in these films, and often forget about the consequences of their actions.
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The media has put immense amounts of pressure on college men to be as crazy as possible. Movies such as Old School, Animal House, Van Wilder, or Neighbors all depict college men as party animals constantly trying to chug beers, get with girls, and go out every night. While amusing, these movies have set a standard for the typical male in college. Men come into college wanting to be like the characters in these films, and often forget about the consequences of their actions. Men want to be college “heroes.”
A young man attempting to be the college “hero” can run into a number of problems. One can easily get caught drinking underage, using a fake ID, drunk driving, and much more. Although many think that they will never get caught, the numbers prove otherwise. According to a recent poll, over 110,000 students are arrested each year for alcohol-related crimes. Unfortunately just one of these “slip ups” could end up poorly affecting your reputation for life.
This All Sounds A Little Harsh
Why is it important to build a good reputation while in college? Why can’t men just go crazy for a little while, and then straighten up later? After all, this is the only time in our lives we can live like this…
“You can’t build a reputation based on what you are going to do”- Henry Ford
What you do now is just as important as what you plan on doing.
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You cannot start or stop building your reputation. Like it or not, a reputation is cumulative, and one mistake can change the rest of your life. What you do now is just as important as what you plan on doing. everything we do can be found online. Your arrest records, phone numbers, social media profiles, marriage records, and much more are just a few clicks away. Anyone can see these at any time they want.
I am not here to preach, because I am just another 21-year-old student, who is in a fraternity, that has slipped up just as many times as any other college man. Instead, I want to share what I have learned about being a college man through my own experiences and shortcomings.
Men Don’t Waste Time Living In The Past
A man’s desire to be the hero in college is driven by a need for attention. He wants people talking about that crazy time he had at the party last night, and he wants his past to be remembered.
“What can I do now that will improve my life tomorrow.”
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Men should not worry about their past being remembered. This is a cheap form of inspiration that causes us to act in ways that are memorable. Well, if you have not noticed already everything we do is memorable. With the combination of public record sites, social media profiles, and applications such as snapchat everything is recorded, put online, and documented for the entire world to look at, if they so choose. A man’s thought process should not be “what can I do now that will be remembered tomorrow,” but instead should be “what can I do now that will improve my life tomorrow.”
No matter how many hilarious stories a man has, he only has one reputation. These stories accumulate to build one impression. These stories accumulate to become you.
My Friend Got A Pointless DUI
One time at a house party he decided that everyone was being a little too boring.
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When I was a freshman I idolized a senior in my fraternity, who for sake of reputation (ironically), I will not share his name. He was the man at every party who did something unforgettable. One time at a house party he decided that everyone was being a little too boring. To be the hero, he decided it would be a good idea to put on a pair of snow skis and ride down the stairs, all the way down the patio, and continued on to beach. To be honest, everyone thought it was hilarious, and he was the hero for the night.
He always found little ways to be the hero for the night, and usually he got away without a scratch. But on one fateful night out, he decided again that he was bored and should shake things up. He decided that everyone should go to a club downtown, and that he should drive them all there even though he had been drinking.
Thankfully he got caught quickly. The cop pulled him over within a mile of his house and he received a DUI. Driving that distance, in his state of mind could have led to something much worse.
So Was It Worth The Story?
Did he have to drive everyone downtown that night? No, but he wanted to be the hero. He want everyone to say that he made the night memorable. He was thinking of what he could do now to be remembered by everyone tomorrow, not what he could do now to improve his tomorrow.
He was too busy dealing with the legal implications of his ticket to enroll.
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After graduating, he had to take a year off of school. He was going to go straight to law school, but he was too busy dealing with the legal implications of his ticket to enroll. His reputation was slightly tarnished and he had to spend a year of his life putting everything back together.
So in an age where everything is online, and our lives are literal open books to the world around us, it is vital that we spend time contemplating what our actions will say about us. College can be a trap for this, because it is a time where self worth and popularity are for some reason considered equivalent. Yet the greater good will be accomplished by the man who ensures that his actions speak positively about him, now and in his future.
Photo: Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It./Flickr