Some of the tips seem a little strange, they don’t seem cool at all, but the “Cool” thing about these tips is not the process…it is the result. Some of these tips seem like a lot of work, but they are all worth it, especially tip number seven since it will help you make friends and will help you with your studies at the same time.
Help
This piece of advice starts in the programming classrooms and moves out towards every class in the college and university environment. If you have ever explored a programmer’s forum, you will find people who will give you valuable (as in worth hundreds of dollars) advice for free. They will complete some of the most difficult programming problems you have, and they do it for free and without looking for any sort of thanks. With the mild exception of iOS programmers who are given incentives not to help each other, you will find that programmers in the online community are the most giving and helpful people in the world.
The feeling it gives you when you find and meet people like this is amazing, and you can become one of those people by giving out help whenever it is needed. You do not have to complete people’s homework for them, you can help people in any way you wish. You can push-start somebody’s car, you can hold a door, you can find somebody a seat when there are not enough in the room. Learn how to help people and genuinely not want anything in return. You may attract parasites, but there is a difference between being helpful and being taken advantage of, and over time you will learn the difference between the two.
Warning – if you have low self-esteem, then do not try this tip because it is very easy to take advantage of people with low self-esteem, and predatory people will find you and exploit you while making you feel as if it is wrong “not” to help them.
Ask Favours
There is something called “The Ben Franklin effect.” It is a proposed psychological phenomenon where people who grant favours end up bonding with the people they grant the favours to, but only if the person asks for the favour.
If somebody asks to borrow your textbook, and then returns it in good condition when he/she said he/she would, you may find yourself liking that person a little more. It is weird, but if you ask somebody for a favour and they can grant it, then they like you a little more.
On the other hand, if you ask a person for a favour and they cannot grant you the favour, then they tend to resent you a little. That is why you should ask for small favours. Even something small such as borrowing a pencil sharpener or asking somebody to watch your bag during a break session will help make that person bond with you a little more.
Talk to Everybody
Build your personal peer-to-peer skills by talking to everybody. Do not just strike up conversations with people in your class or people you are attracted to. Strike up conversations with everybody. Talk to the old man in the store who has been stood in line with you for half an hour while the checkout does a cash-up or cash-out or whatever it is that they do that keeps them busy while you are waiting.
Strike up a conversation with people in the same waiting room as you, with people in the bus, with people walking their dogs, with people in college who are stood around. It doesn’t have to be a big or interesting conversation. Make a comment such as, “Hey, what was all that noise about just now?” or “Hi, have you been waiting long for the bus?” or, “Damn, this is Amazonian rain right here.”
Participate
In about ten years, you are going to see “Cool Chad” or “Nice Jessica.” You are going to say, “Hey, remember me? We were in Biology together in Hillsdale, MI.” And he/she is going to say, “Who?”
Don’t put yourself in that position. When the professor asks a question, give an answer, and give it confidently even if you are not sure. Don’t do the whole timid, “Erm, is it……” Bang out your answer with the confidence of a silver-backed gorilla because you will be just as remembered if you are wrong as if you are right.
Learn to Be Funny
Taking the point from the previous tip, there are nobody more remembered than students who participate and who are funny. You will always remember the student on the field trip where the instructor said, “If I see you use your phone again, it goes over the cliff” and the student replied, “...And you will follow it.”
Participate and pay attention but throw a few funny ones in now and again. Learn how to be funny. There is a model called Kimberly Matte who is stunning. Meet her in real life and she is as sweet chocolate kisses…but she is not funny. Sadly, she doesn’t know she is not funny because every time she tells a joke…every guy within a 12-yard radius will burst out laughing because she is hot.
Learn how to be funny, and if you happen to be hot, try to be funny with people who are not sexually attracted to you. Be funny with people who have no incentive or ulterior motive to laugh.
Do Not Try So Hard
Have you met that person who tries way too hard? Don’t be that person. It can be difficult when you are trying to be friendly and yet you are not making any friends, but that doesn’t mean you should try harder. It means you should work on your personality a little more. Work on your body, your smile, your attitude and your confidence. Take up martial arts to become more confident and start hanging around with people who scare you a little. Learn how to be funny and try different hair and clothing styles.
Post Your Notes Online
Start up a free blog with Google Blogger. After your day of lectures, go back to your dorm and type up all your notes. Improve them, maybe do a little extra research, and create brilliant notes as blog posts. Not only does this help you remember and revise the stuff you have learned that day (and it REALLY, REALLY does help you remember the stuff you learned), not only does it help you remember the stuff you learned, but it also makes you more popular if people find out you are doing it.
Students miss lessons all the time, and they always need to copy the notes other people have written. It is far more convenient to visit your blog and copy your notes. Put a picture of yourself on there, and write something such as, “Here are the notes from 11 class on 5 date. If you like them, then say hi next time we are in class.” Also, add links to your Google+, your Twitter and your Facebook profiles.
Make a few comments of your own on your blog, especially if they are funny. Spread the word so that people in your classes know to visit your blog, and you will find that suddenly a lot more people know (and are aware of you) than ever before. It may not seem like it matters, but you will be surprised how many times strangers help you out in fights or offer you lifts home because they recognize you from your blog.
