OK, confession time: I’ve been thinking about being a college coach for years. Years. My wife Laura and I would go for long walks together and discuss it with each other. This is how the term and the concept “your next four” even came to be, on one of these long walks. We were talking about segments of your life. Few people can see so far ahead to plan their life out thirty, twenty, or even ten years ahead. But envisioning what you want to do for the next four years of yourself seemed… doable. Planning for your next four years and how you want it to look, what you want to accomplish, and what you want that experience to be seemed doable, and vital.
And yet, I didn’t do anything with the idea. I had a failure to launch, so to speak. I still couldn’t see a true motivation to make this happen. I knew I could be helpful to people, I knew there was a need for this help, but I held off.
However, recently with talking to kids and families, I have noticed a shift in people’s feelings towards this entire process. Instead of excitement about possibilities, kids are anxious and facing their future with dread. Thinking about their future has become a - ugh - chore. Something they have to do, but definitely don’t want to.
However, the fact is that the years that (most) students go to college, age 18 to 22, are arguably the most exciting, fun, and adventurous times of your life. And college is perfectly designed for this experience. It is a small town consisting of other 18 to 22 year olds, having fun, studying and learning together, and oh yeah, when you get out you can now make way more money than before you started when you were just a high school graduate. It’s like if you told an eight year old they can live at DisneyWorld for the next four years. “Yes, sounds good, sign me up.”
So, the mission. What do I hope to accomplish? First, to make this process fun and exciting, and not dreadful. To help students think about possibilities. To get kids to be so excited for the future that they are beside themselves with anticipation. The second is to reduce anxiety. Make things easier. To reinstitute a “we got this” feeling for families. When I talk to parents, I rarely hear “we got this.” I hear “we have no idea what we are doing.” That is exactly what I hope to change.