I recommend building your future college experience, and future career, based on what you’re already the best at and what comes easiest to you. This is your natural competitive advantage and should not be discounted in any way. The current systems do not directly invite you to know yourself, so you will need to forge a path for yourself to yourself. Your future begins and ends with you!
To help you figure out ‘who’ you are I’ve listed some professional assessments that are usually fun to take and provide a wealth of insight. Aggregating and using these inexpensive, professional assessments is a much better strategy than using expensive college time to ‘figure out who you are’, in my opinion.
Even if you purchased all of these assessments it would still be less expensive than one college class. Think of knowing yourself as a class you take for a semester, or two. Isn’t that knowledge worth more than a year studying calculus?
The fact that you can choose your path is an amazing reality. Yes, there might be heavy feelings associated with the weight of that choice, but the fact you get to choose is a remarkable thing. We are here to grow. We can grow in whichever way we want. There is a joy in choosing and that joy never ends.
Uncle Nate’s Quick Checklist:
| Checklist item: | Date completed: |
| 1. Connect with your Career Center | |
| 2. Take all of the assessments you can afford and put them all into one folder that you can easily share with professional career counselors. (I prefer Dropbox). | |
| 3. Connect with a consultant who can go over the assessments (Links below). You wouldn’t do your own surgery and your university education can be more costly than a surgery. Why not use pros to help you decide? | |
| 4. Take a course at your university that goes over options for majors and careers. Treat your major and career like a subject you’d study in high school. It takes time and consistency to get high results. It makes sense to treat these decisions with respect and care. | |
| 5. Buy a physical notebook and start cataloging your self-observations: what do you enjoy doing, what are you insanely good at, what do others ask for your help with, and list all the things you want to accomplish in your life. | |
| 6. Having done all this, you are now ready to make a decision on which skills you want to acquire for your career and the paths you need to take in order to get there. | |
| 7. Be sure to get hands-on experience first before committing to a career path. Get an internship doing the thing you want to do after you graduate yet before you take a class in that subject. Many graduates do not like doing the actual experience of the work they studied years for to do, even PhD students. | |
| 7. The hidden challenge is to do all of this without going into debt, enjoying your life, and have a great time being alive. You can do it! | |
| 8. You want to get your certifications in bite-sized chunks. First, get a 1 year certificate that lets you get paid while you study. 2nd, try to get your associates. 3rd, then get your 4 year certificate (Bachelors). To make it in America, both husband and wife need a masters degree in a dominant industry (However, kids are best adjusted when 1 parent stays home). The earlier you can get your Masters degree, the better. (If you decide to go the university route). It’s important to get these certificates in sequence like this, because many students do not graduate at all. (Utah Tech has a 25% graduation rate, and many universities do not even publish their graduation rates. Even if you don’t graduate, you will still need to pay back the student loans.) |
Career Centers
Utah Tech University Career Center: https://career.utahtech.edu/career-assessments/
SUU Career Center: https://www.suu.edu/blog/2016/05/career-assessment-inventory.html
BYU – Idaho Career Center: https://www.byui.edu/career/
(They have a good career certification program, but I’m not seeing any pro assessments.)
BYU – Provo Career Center:https://careers.byu.edu/explore
(These guys have quite a lot of assessments he can take, but I’m not sure if he has to be enrolled there or not.)
Personal, Major, and Career Assessments
(To the best of my knowledge, these do not use AI) I would recommend placing them all into one folder that you can then have a professional review to find meaningful patterns that align with the current marketplace. Career paths are rarely linear. Your interests, goals, and values will evolve over time — and that’s expected. In fact, the average American changes careers 3 to 7 times over their lifetime.
| https://www.colorcode.com | The Color Code |
| https://www.myersbriggs.org | Myers & Briggs Personality Test |
| https://5lovelanguages.com | Love Language |
| https://www.insights.com/us/products/insights-discovery/ | Insights |
| https://www.keirsey.com | Keisery |
| https://www.viacharacter.org/ | Via Character |
| https://onetinterestprofiler.org | One Interest Profiler |
| https://www.strengthsprofile.com/about | Test used by Harvard’s Career Center |
| https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/253868/popular-cliftonstrengths-assessment-products.aspx | CliftonStrengths |
| https://mbainventory.com | Work Appreciation Language |
| https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc | Disc Profile |
| https://www.onetonline.org/skills/soft/ | O*Net soft skills |
| ttps://mysparkpath.com/ | SparkPath Cards |
Professional Counselors:
($129 with Zoom call interpretation)
(I haven’t found another provider who combines all of these tests.)
Includes The Following Five Reports:
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) Career Report
- Strong Interest Inventory® and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® Combined Career Report College Edition
- Strong Interest Inventory® College Edition Profile
- Skills Confidence Profile
- Strong Interest Inventory® Interpretive Report
2. She seems amazing and uses one of the best assessment tests I’ve seen, the Highlands Test. Kirby Counseling
(I’m not sure how much she charges, but I think these are the best investments one can make.)
I would highly you connect with your high school counselor to get any professional assessments for free.
3. Insights Discovery with Consultation: https://inspirehrc.com/solutions%2Fpricing
Scholarships
| https://bold.org | Bold |
| https://thescholarshipsystem.com/webinar/?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=button | The Scholarship System |
Scholarship Tips
- Look for smaller scholarships most don’t know about and create a system where you work on finding and applying for them 1.5 hours every Sunday. Treat it like a quarter-time job, be consistent, and the math will work in your favor. It might be more lucrative than any summer, or part-time, job you could do.
- High school guidance counselors usually have a magic drawer of scholarships. Sometimes organizations and companies send them directly to them, which they keep in a file. Try going to meet with your GC and ask to see any scholarships they might be aware of that haven’t been added to the website. Let them know you’re searching for them, and they might send them directly to you when new scholarships come in.
- Do the same thing for your college career center and financial aid office. Some universities require that you apply for these ‘hidden’ scholarships after you’ve been admitted as a student. They might require a separate application.
- There are also advisors specifically for your academic major department, like the department of the humanities or the department of business. The department advisors should know of scholarships that are specific to their department. Sometimes only a handful of students know about this and apply for these important scholarships.
- Look up, via Google search, scholarships available for your specific interests, like drawing or art, and/or your major.
- Example search terms (be aware of scams – most legit scholarships will require some kind of essay) :
- “Marketing Association + Scholarship”
- “Scholarships for Marketing Majors”
- Graphic design scholarships
- “Scholarships for students from ____”
European Trades
An enjoyable path is to go to Europe to study a traditional trade then return to the United States and open up a shop for the service, or products, you learned how to create. Baking bread. Making gelato. Build a traditional home. Woodworking. Crafting European lodging. There are so many options.
The quality Europe offers is unparalleled. Even just being in a week-long program could be the qualitative edge that you need to compete with others in a similar space back home and win. Enriching your local community with these European trades is a wonderful and lucrative experience. The time spent in Europe studying the trade could be the highlight of your life. There are scholarships available for these programs.
(I have not ‘vetted’ these programs. There are many to choose from that are not listed.)
| Programs | Links |
| Chocolate Making in Belgium | https://www.ecolechocolat.com/en/belgian-chocolate.html |
| Pastry Making in Switzerland | https://studyabroadassociation.com/areas-of-study/switzerland-pastry-and-chocolate/ |
| Chocolate Making in Europe | https://www.callebaut.com/en/callebaut-chocolate-academy/locations |
Happiness
Sometimes it’s not easy to tell what is a path to happiness. An easier method might be to simply avoid things that are generally known to be a source of constant unhappiness. Life is nuanced, so please be aware that individual results may vary.
One of the best ways to happiness is to see yourself as a person whose passions and interests are currently unknown, but you get to discover them with time, patience, and living life. Cultural happiness from cultural checkboxes are real, but genuine happiness is only from within. So, I recommend starting there. (Please note these are generalities.)
Most near-end-of-life reports say that work was the least meaningful path in life and that relationships, self-growth, time with loved ones, time in nature, time for self, and nurturing family were what most regret not doing more of.
Causes of Happiness/Unhappiness
| Unhappiness Causes | Happiness Helps |
| Long-term Isolation | Caring Relationships |
| Debt in all forms | Positive Compounding Investments |
| Knowing Your Self | |
| Travel | |
| Nature Deficit | Playing in Nature |
| Sedentary Life | Physical Movement & Strengthening |
| Too much tech/media/cell phone time | Physical book reading |
| Gambling | |
| Gossip | |
| The inevitable collapse from extremism. | Zodiac-like balance |
| Comparing | Harmonizing |
| Cruises | |
| Deep listening to your favorite music | |
| Personal Creative Arts | |
| Micro-managing managers | Caring, Uplifting Managers |
| Becoming a real expert in something you’re gifted at | |
| Giving Back/Volunteering/Community Building | |
| Divorce (in itself) | |
| Living by Water | |
| Plants in your home | |
| Primary Colors | |
| Sunshine | |
| Hobbies | |
| Collections | |
| Grammar knowledge | |
| Knowing which town your European ancestors came from |
Relationships
It’s been reported many times that kind and caring relationships are the key to a long, happy life.
Here are some resources to help you in your relationships:
| The color code | https://www.colorcode.com |
| The 5 love languages | https://5lovelanguages.com |
| Myers & Briggs Personality Test | https://www.myersbriggs.org |
Holistic Healing Practices
Integrating healthy routines into our daily life will help generate positive feelings, thoughts, and actions.
Here is a simple list of proven practices:
| Morning and evening sunshine bathing (yellow light + orange light) | |
| Walking, running, or sitting by river water or the ocean | |
| Guided meditation tracks | |
| Red light | |
| Primary colors light (chromotherapy) | |
| Processing (Externalizing internal dialogue with a caring person or professional) | |
| Dance | |
| Breath work | |
| Strength Training with weights | |
| Sprinting or aerobic exercising | |
| Taking care of plants and trees | |
| Aligning with nature: her seasons, patterns, purity, magnetics, calendars | |
| Electric bicycling | |
| Journaling | |
| Coloring | |
| Binaural Beats | |
| Affirmations | |
| Visualizing | |
| Positive Pictures | |
| Organic incense or tree resin | |
| Bells | |
| Uplifting music | |
| Prayer | |
| Reading positive things | |
| Hand drawing | |
| Walking in a forest | |
| Grounding (Barefoot on grass) | |
| Practicing Gratitude | |
| Stretching / Yoga poses | |
| Practicing Letting Go |
Essential, you want to generate a positive, uplifting place around you filled with color and positive sayings, live in a beautiful place, commit to uplifting daily routines, while visualizing what you want to create in your life. It’s easier to do so when you ‘plug’ into positive sources, like the sun, the water, plants and then enjoy movement activities, like electric bicycling with someone who cares about you. Usually, the more we are surrounded by real nature the happier we are, especially clean, moving water.
Decisions
In this section, I will be posting the best insights I’ve found into how to make the best decisions.
From what I’ve seen, there are two different worlds we have to navigate. One is of the mind. The other is physical reality.
In the mind’s world, we take the physical facts and processes and turn them into a story filled with emotion. This world, for the most part, is created and governed by what we read, watch, and listen to, besides nature. Many people base their lives on what they saw in a movie.
Most of our mental world is dictated by the media/content we consume as a child and the story we live in, in relation to our family of origin. It’s quite difficult to remove these childhood drama stories. If you have children, consider letting them grow-up in the natural world without endless consuming of ‘entertainment’. This mental world is filled with comparative judgements within the bubble of our country of origin’s culture and our childhood religious culture. One example is looking at the size of trucks today vs. in the 1980s. Once our culture is on a path, we then begin to be highly competitive within that path. Each truck has to be bigger than the last. It’s not uncommon to see many monster-size trucks that are about $100k on the highway now. Trucks are no longer used as functional utility items to get work done. The mental meaning of them have transformed into something beyond their original purpose.
What seems normal for us in our culture can be extraordinary for those outside of our culture. Some of our unhappiness stems from the perceived deficiencies we pre-occupy our minds with from within the mental world we created for ourselves. A lot of these perceived deficiencies are generated by savvy advertising companies to sell things.
That’s why travel is so important. Travel reveals the stories we’re governed by within our mind without knowing. You can’t really travel to a foreign place and live there in your mental story of origin. One trip to Europe, as an American, can be very helpful for long-term mental health, as it will ‘pop’ your cultural bubble, to some degree.
We can re-generate a mental world that’s more wholesome via intentional media consumption of positive world views, positive affirmations, positive visualizations, and planning experiences that get us deeper into the physical/natural world. It’s hard to do this though, because much of ‘news’, YouTube videos, and movies hook the mind via fear.
In my opinion, you want to base your decisions based, not on what’s happening in your mental world, but your physical world. The physical world is pretty much where your body always is.
If you go to college, your body will be sitting in a chair for years – obviously in different classrooms – while your mind will be going to all kinds of different places via books, lectures, and other content.
It’s difficult to make great decisions based on the world of the mind.
Oftentimes, what is good in our mental world turns out to be a bad decision later on.
A more sure path is making decisions that will help you in the physical world long-term. That’s why exercise is so important. Consistent exercise pays dividends in the short and long-term for your entire life. This is a decision rooted in the physical.
Having a beautiful, rejuvenating space for your body to relax and recharge in is a great place to make positive decisions. Again, as our mind is pre-occupied with ‘making it’ within our mental bubble(s), if we help the body by gifting it sanctuaries of place – no matter where we are in our lives along our mental journey – our body will be comfortable, relaxed, and nurtured.
The body knows when it’s not in a good environment without much natural food, pure water, greenery, plant oxygen, primary colors, etc., and it will send you feelings of anxiety until those conditions are better.
The body wants to be in nature, surrounded by genuine nature, as much as possible. Try to bring nature inside. Your body will always want to exercise, move, dance, and interact with others. It wants to be around family, water, and be out in the sun. It wants to have stacks of food and water in a safe, accessible place. Paying attention to what helps, or stresses, the body will pay dividends. You can do it!
Another important aspect of the physical vs. mental is your job. At your job, you could mentally be doing a lot of cool things; however, if you are physically stressed out due to the incessant demands without being able to take a break, stuffy spaces without real oxygen and plants, not being able to enjoy true vacations, being in sync with nature’s seasons, getting family time, etc., the joy of this job will eventually be eroded due to these physical stressors. Your body, for the most part, doesn’t get the same joy we do from our mental stories.
Stress is find as long as you have a physical support system that enables you to compete for decades. Otherwise, it simply turns into a mining system that harvests your life force, that never allows you to regenerate.
One of the best paths for making wise decisions is understanding micro and macro economics. If you read 15 books on economics, your brain will start to make better decisions automatically.
Planning
You can’t study this is a subject in school for some reason, but planning is a necessary topic to master if you want your life to run well. In this section, I’ll detail the best strategies on planning for the short and long-term.
If you can, get a notebook and begin finding the best books on planning that you can find. You want to try and finish at least 10 of these books taking careful notes of what you read and writing out your thoughts on the subject.
Being organized is part of planning. You will never regret finishing books and courses on getting organized and learning how to plan. Mastering these subjects will always pay-off short and long-term.
Part of being organized is living a life without clutter. Our current society is triangulated to generate incredible amounts of things. There are huge storage unit sites being built everywhere just to store this stuff. It’s hyper-easy to accumulate and quite difficult to let go of. Try to get a process of de-cluttering. Be very, very cautious of digital accumulation. Most of our computers make it difficult to de-clutter digital content, because that’s one of the reasons why people need to buy new computers.
Being minimal, without little clutter, organized, and having a clear plan will help you have a tight ship that is navigable in any type of sea. Hopefully, you can steer your life ship to beautiful destinations filled with personalized experiences that mean a lot to you and enjoy those with the best people in your life.