Students blog

Understanding data is a very important skill, regardless of your major! However, if you are like me, you might have found that as you are nearing graduation, there are a few things you wish your degree would have taught you. I wish I would have known more about data analytics. This is a very hard skill to teach yourself, but fortunately I found some resources I would like share with you that will allow you to build on your education to get that competitive edge.

 Start with Google!

 Google Partners offers online courses and study guides to learn their products. The online courses are FREE and very well done. Each course takes about 5 minutes and they are broken down by learning objective. By the time you are done with the course, you will begin to see connections, how your action can influence user behavior and how data will reflect that. All the Google products: Google Analytics, AdWords, and Mobile Sites teach students how to interpret data and how that data reflects human behavior.

 YouTube is your teacher, friend, tutor, sensei, master, etc.

 There are so many YouTube educational channels that will help break down large complicated topics. YouTube has made education more accessible. It is a free resource and a great place to start. Some of my favorite channels are Google AdWords, Crash Course, Big Think, Google Analytics, Google Partners, HubSpot, Moz, and TED-Ed. Some other sites you can use to learn for free are EdX.org and Khan Academy.

 Take practice exams

 This step was critical for me because I did not know how well I retained the information until I was taking a test. On YouTube I could follow along live practice exams other people had already taken. For a Google Analytics and Google AdWords exam, I would follow along and answer the questions in the video by pausing along the way to allow myself time to answer the question. I would check my answer against the video and use my wrong answers as a study guide.

 I am pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing – needless to say, my approach to data analytics is unique. The reason I became so fascinated with data and data analytics was because it provides more insight to user behavior and motivations. Having that type of insight is a powerful leveraging tool in the context of business and provides interesting insight to human motivations. Understanding data and how to manipulate data is not an intuitive skill for me. I was interested in learning but it was an uphill climb. The online resources I discovered allowed me to learn material that makes my education diversified and competitive.

Are you seeking to learn a new skill? Share with the Pearson Students community when you retweet my blog!

I started college the fall semester of 2014 at the University of Houston straight out of high school. This experience was akin to living on Cloud 9 because the University of Houston was (and still is) my dream school. I had been making plans to attend this university since I first discovered it in the 8th grade. My high school classes were selected based on the credits that would transfer to the university. I knew all there was to know about the Honors College, Bauer College of Business, and College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. I knew what I wanted to major in and was very familiar with the degree plan. Not only was the University of Houston the only  school I applied to, but for me, it was the only school worth going to.

A dream becomes reality  

When I got accepted into the Honors College, I witnessed my dream become a reality. It was at that moment that I began to realize how malleable the reality we live in can be. Our actions, thoughts and intentions can have a dramatic effect on how we live our lives. The process of transitioning dreams to reality is where creativity, research and faith come into play. I worked hard to get accepted into the Honors College, it didn’t happen overnight.

The power to shape my reality

Starting college at my dream school was the first step for me. Imagine a young African American woman graduating from a Tier- 1 research institution in four years with two degrees, fluent in two languages, with extensive travel experiences. Imagine a student who started a chapter of a national organization, opened a consulting business, started a nonprofit and is now about to head to South Korea to learn her third language! That person is me. Not to mention, I did all this before turning 22 and spent less than $10,000 on everything– tuition, books, study abroad, fees, business ventures! That sounds like a pipedream to most people, but for me, that is my life.

Making your own reality requires redefining what “real” is

This is where creativity plays a huge role. You need to tap into that part of your psyche that used to believe that literally anything was possible. It is important not to limit yourself by the barriers you think might exist. For example, a 5-year old would gladly entertain the possibility of becoming a ninja-fighting robot astronaut who does gymnastics on the weekends without hesitation.  They see possibility and wonder around them and they want to engage with all of it. Entertain the possibility of limitless opportunities. Go down the rabbit hole of what-ifs, and I-wish and wouldn’t-it-be-great-if. Reignite the excitement of an overactive imagination then start taking steps to enact those dreams.

Build a road map

After your creativity has become ignited, start to do your research. This is where you start to build the road map to those dreams. Understand that the pathway to your success will be riddled with challenges designed to make you stronger and this pathway will ebb and flow. You need to open yourself up to change and flexibility. If you see an obstacle, go through it. If you can’t go through it then go around it. Or go over it, under it, sideways, and if all else fails take a bulldozer and tear it down!

Have faith in yourself

Lastly while paving the path, it is important to have faith in yourself. Your faith is the steam engine behind all your efforts. If you lose sight of what you are aiming for then all your effort can seem wasted and things start going south very quickly. It is okay – even encouraged- to rely on family and friends who believe in you. They can help you through the hard times. It is okay if they do not see the vision you have for yourself. All they need to do is believe in you.

Take the first step

Make your dreams a reality! Don’t loose your imagination – ignite it, to inspire yourself into accomplishing amazing things! With hope, faith, and a little bit of research, you can live your most daring dreams – it just requires you to take the first step!

The investment you make in a higher education is a waste of time, effort and resources if you spend that investment within your comfort zone. The point of any investment – higher education, starting a business, traveling or even a hobby – is to test and expand the limits of your mind and pave new experiences that are UNSIMILAR in scope and breadth to your past. This is how and where growth happens.

When you push the boundaries of your comfort zone, you are building a bridge between the person you are and the person you want to be.  Fear gets in the way of that transformation. You see the person you want to be, but are afraid to take the steps to be that person because that involves a risk of failure. There is no guarantee that even if you take that chance you will be successful and failure hurts. Even the idea of failure is painful.

At the same time, by never taking that risk you are guaranteed to stay the same person you have always been.  Within our bubble, we have mastered a predictable routine. There is safety, security and stability. There is also stagnation, but people do not realize how stagnant they have become until months, years or even decades pass by and they are still the same person with the same familiar experiences. This realization is typically buckled with some deep seated regrets. There comes a time when you become a passive observer of your own life rather than an active participant. Fortunately, this can be avoided by a habitual practice of escaping your comfort zone.

First, define what is outside of your comfort zone

This is your “I wish” list. For example, I wish I could:

• run a marathon in record time.
• play the piano as well as a concert pianist.
• get my doctorate from an Ivy League school.  

You get the idea. Define the reality you want that is clearly outside of your comfort zone and write it down. Then say it out loud. When you say it out loud, substitute “I wish” with “I will”. It is important to speak it into existence. This is the early stage of challenging your comfort zone.

Second, create a pathway from within your comfort zone to the edge and beyond

This is where the two realities meet. For instance, let’s say you want to run a marathon in record time but  have not exercised in two years. It would be ludicrous to do a marathon tomorrow but you can start with a 10 minute walk around the neighborhood tonight. Take the same approach to every item on your wish list. The trick is to break it up into small, actionable steps that you can take to achieve those goals.

Third, get support!

It can be intimidating to venture out of your comfort zone. There will be some psychological elements that you have to overcome on your own, but there is a network of support ready to lift you up! Whether it is your group of family and friends or an online forum or even social media – it does not matter! Any type of positive support can help keep you accountable.

Finally, reflect on your progress

It is easy to get lost in the shuffle while actively trying to breach your comfort zone. It is vital that you take some time to reflect on your setbacks and accomplishments. Be patient with yourself and remember every step forward, no matter how small, is progress. Set regular breaks to reflect on your journey outside of your comfort zone.

As you venture out of your comfort zone, your horizons will be expanded. What you have believed about what is possible will change while building that bridge to the person you want to become. Personally, I make it a point to consistently push the envelope. You will learn a lot from your experiences if you push it, too. I challenge my clients to explore outside of their comfort zone in order to redefine their access to higher education and professional achievement. I help my clients reach beyond their comfort zone with confidence. 

What efforts do you make outside of your comfort zone? Share with the Pearson Students community when you retweet this blog!