0:04
Welcome to Thrive IN™ and greetings from Houston, Texas. This is Dr. IJ, your very own life coach. Thrive IN™ is a life coaching podcast for college students. And believe me, you are in the right place if you’re committed to becoming the highest and truest version of yourself, while making the most of your time in college. I am so thrilled for the session. The reason for my excitement, I have a very special guest that I’ll be chatting with today.

0:30
My goal for guest interviews is to expose you to amazing people who had experiences in college that you might be having. I want you to hear their stories and efforts to show you that you are not alone in what you might be going through, and to offer you some life lessons from which you can apply to your own life as a young adult in college.

0:49
So today, I am joined by Jordan Paris. Jordan is quite the rock star. Allow me to share just a fragment of information among the many outstanding things I could mention about Jordan. Jordan is a 21 year old author, podcast host, and former college athlete. Check this out: He’s been featured in so many dope platforms like Men’s Health, Yahoo Finance, Market Watch, and NASDAQ. Jordan’s podcast, Growth Mindset University, was ranked #3 in Apple’s Training category, and #5 in the How-To category. On his show, Jordan interviews the most successful people on planet earth, like James Altucher, Kevin Rudolph, Mark Manson, Dan Millman, Naveen Jain, and Dan Lok. Jordan founded the WordPress Rocketeer, where he focused on developing engaging websites to launch his clients dreams to infinity and beyond. Now, he and his team have shifted their focus to doing marketing for serious podcasters. His approach to life and business is simple, yet powerful. Don’t make a living, design a life.

1:59
I speak with Jordan Paris, who shared about an epiphany he had in college that propelled him to his entrepreneurial journey. Jordan shares his provocative views on the college educational system, and how he made the most of his time in college. My chat with Jordan starts now.

2:18
Jordan, I’m so glad to meet you. Welcome to the show.

2:21
Dr. IJ. You rockstar podcaster. I’m so excited to be talking with you. I know this is our our second go around with so we’ve had a we’ve had a chance to get to familiar with each other. We’re dealing with technical difficulties last week, and we’re making it happen now.

2:36
Absolutely. So thank you for your patience with that. And by the way, I so love your name. JP, Jordan, Paris. Sounds so fancy. I love it. , I used to when I was when I was younger. I hated my name.

2:51
Because Jordan was like, oh, it could be a girl’s name. And I already had this like, long hair down to my shoulders and people would mistake me for a girl. Like I remember, you know, in my basketball league once, it was like the first game of the season, I was like eight years old as scoring all these buckets, right as I had so many points, right? Probably like 12 points, but like, that’s a lot for that league. You know, at that age. That’s a lot. At one point, the coaches like cover her. I remember it. So I did not like the name Jordan. But now and then Paris, like, I don’t know if I’m like that either. But now I like it. I do. I think Paris is a very unique last name I’m very grateful for my name now.

3:35
But previously, I was not

3:37
What a story. Look at that. Look at that. I love that. So Jordan, I want to share with listeners how I found you. So I was randomly browsing through LinkedIn, when I stumbled upon your profile and your presence and your platform just immediately captured my attention. I you know, I started scoping you out and I thought to myself, wow, he’s only 21? And he’s accomplished so much. Oh my gosh, I need to have him on my show. He’s outstanding. So here we are. And I am so grateful to be chatting with you today.

4:05
You know, it’s funny because I love when people discover me via LinkedIn. I mean, my reach is wide and it really hit on earlier this week where this guy who I watched his videos in high school, his YouTube videos, he’s got like 133,000 subscribers, again, relating to basketball, like, I guess another basketball story here, my friend and I, we watched his basketball tutorials. This guy did like the sick moves, and his name was Dre Baldwin and Dre sent me a two minute video this week, like literally like praising me for the work that I do and like how he you know, how he’s been checking out my stuff, and I’ve never had a prior interaction with this guy, right? And he’s like, and then he like, asked me on my podcast, I was like, Oh, my gosh, like, Yeah, I was gonna reach out to you anyway. So, so I just I love that it brings people like you and Dre to me. Awesome. Very good.

5:03
So Jordan to start us off. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and where you currently go to school, your major, anything you’d like to

5:10
share. I mean, I go to school at Florida Gulf Coast University. It’s the bane of my existence. Because, you know, I do work that matters for people who care, right? I have to interrupt money making activities to go to school, I have to interrupt the money making activities to do busy work, right? This, the material and syllabi are decades outdated, and most of it is completely irrelevant to to the world today. And so I’m so not not very happy about it. I’ve switched my major many times from accounting, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, which is where I am now and I’m doing entrepreneurship because it’s the path of least resistance.

5:52
Yeah, just so I can get that piece of paper, you know, and hightail my way out of there in May because I just have more pressing matters and I have more pressing matters to deal with now then to do busy work, and I know these are controversial opinions, but this is what you get with me and, and these are my opinions on education, but I have made the most of my time at school, you know, it was, it was a good thing freshman year, just you know, I didn’t have options coming out of out of high school. It was to go to college. So, you know, that was the only option like I didn’t have anything going on. So I went to college and I went from— I was a high school loser.

6:28
And in that first week of college, I had this great opportunity, like the campus is an awesome thing filled with opportunity. And my my little brother just got to experience that going to Colorado Boulder over the past month. He’s a freshman there now. And he’s been thrust into these great opportunities. But now, when I got on campus three years ago, I had nothing going on. The first week literally the first week of school I became a student athlete. It was a male cheerleader now lifting human beings up over my head and doing backflips. Like I learned to do the backflips in like two weeks.

7:00
Yeah, I had never thought in a million years, I’ll probably I’ll do a backflip one day, you know? No, it was never a thought and so I I just learned this stuff. And I became president of my residence hall I won the election over eight people and I just said, Hey, I’m going to do this and I’ll figure out how to win later I did. I had a marketing strategy put together that enabled me to set myself apart from the other people you know, the other eight people that ran against me.

7:31
and I,

7:31
you know, a little small little thing that week too, but I joined a fraternity. So the bottom line though, like I went from high school loser to like huh, I kind of have things gone on for the first time, my life. Like I have a purpose here. Like I have things to look forward to. Things that I like to do. Responsibilities. People depending on me, and it was fun and it set the tone for you know, making those small decisions without hesitation. That first week of school set the tone for me to make these bigger decisions, again without hesitation so that I wouldn’t talk myself out of it or overthink it later on in my college career, namely, you know, writing a book, starting a podcast, and even before that, starting a blog, right. When it came time for those decisions, I was conditioned to just, boom, I’m going to do it. Yeah.

8:23
Wow, I have so many questions and comments for you. My first one that comes up before I forget to ask you is, you mentioned High School loser, maybe two times can you expound on what you mean by that?

8:34
I didn’t have friends I had. I had one friend, it was Peter. And

8:41
I wouldn’t talk during the day and go home and play video games. And

8:47
yeah, I honestly agree with you in terms of educational systems being outdated, in a way. So when did you discover though that Yeah, the classroom setting in a college setting wasn’t for you. What kind of prompted you to have those thoughts? Was it a parent? Was it just something you watch? Like, talk to us about that? Yeah,

9:05
that’s a great question. Because in between semester one and semester, two of my freshman year, I got my certification, National Academy of Sports Medicine, certification and personal training. And I got that because my ultimate goal was to never work for anyone ever again. And I didn’t get that to go work at a gym. I got that to have my own in-home clients. And it took two months to land my first couple of clients, but by March, I had a couple of clients that I was seeing two times per week, I was making $60 per hour, six times more than everyone else my age. And after a couple of months of making $60 per hour, which you know, seemed like a ton at the time like, oh my god. After a couple of months of that, as I remember it was in my freshman year as I was driving on this road past the Town Center, with my friend in the car and I don’t know, we were talking just like occurred to me and I was like, huh, you know, wow, I feel like if I dropped out of school, I would be perfectly fine.

10:12
And he goes, Yeah, yeah, I think you’re right. Actually.

10:17
Wow, it’s like you had an epiphany at that moment.

10:21
Yeah.

10:21
And from there I just started to realize like more and more Why am I here? Okay, you know we’ll do it in simple if then statements like if one day job then go to school. I didn’t want a job. Why am I Why am I getting a piece of paper and I started to notice to as I take more and more courses there I’m like, Wait a second. All of these are cookie cutter courses from McGraw Hill. Right, there McGraw Hill generic PowerPoints that the teachers just read off of, you know, the books are McGraw Hill teachers read out of them and the teacher most likely hasn’t done this.

11:00
That they’re reading to us about and the material is decades outdated. Anyway, as I previously mentioned, the homework and quizzes are also McGraw Hill or Cengage or whatever, you know, you can just click through them and you still get to pay attention. Every answer is on quizlet.com verbatim. And the system is gamed hard by everyone, everyone. And the tests. The teachers don’t even know it’s going to be on the test. Like I can’t tell you Yeah, I have no idea. It’s auto generated.

11:30
You click learning outcomes on McGraw Hill’s whatever and like outcomes, a test with questions from their test bank of 30,000 questions. And then we bubble it into a scantron. Goes into a machine. Comes up with a number that somehow defines us. I realized grades are an illusion. They are of no consequence. It doesn’t matter really doesn’t matter. And I started to get very, very frustrated. I was like, Wait, how much are we paying for this?

11:53
Wait a minute, the student loan debt is $1.52 trillion and the average 44 million Americans owe an average of $37,000? Wait a minute, oh, and people our age around I mean, a little older than me. But young people are buying homes less often and having kids less often even when they want to just as much as the previous generation, student loan debt, like this sets people back decades, if not an entire lifetime. Doctors, owe an excessive $200,000 on average. Lawyers, owe an excessive $120,000.

12:27
And these universities keep hiking up the tuition costs because they know they can. They know they’re, they’re backed by the government, like you cannot declare bankruptcy on student loans. It’s like the only thing you can’t declare bankruptcy on. Like we are bound to this. The universities of course know so they continue to hike up tuition costs dramatically. Even the cost of textbooks, these textbooks that are decades outdated or you know cost hundreds of dollars for a single one. Textbooks has multiplied by three and costs over the past 30 years. Printing costs haven’t gone up. What gives? I kind of

13:02
get surprised when a lot of professors use these big, massive textbooks when there’s so much content on the internet that’s fresh and more engaging. And you could use it in a way that will keep the students more engaged with what’s relevant.

13:15
It’s a really poor way of learning very poor, like nobody actually reads them.

13:23
Memorize definitions and spit it out on a test.

13:25
And that’s the thing is like education. we’re more concerned about rote memorization and the grades that we can get on a test, as opposed to like, real learning and doing. Like, what are we doing here? You know, why? Why do we care about padding our GPA? Like that’s the main focus. Everything’s about GPA, GPA, GPA, and I don’t understand it.

13:48
Yeah, I recently posted something that said, this is the period when you’re starting to take some tests and exams and some of you may fail on these tests and exams, but know that your grades don’t determine your self-worth. Because oftentimes, a lot of students, they are very hard on themselves if they fail and stress out about it, but that does not determine your value.

14:09
Now, I want to I want to say though, you know, for your audience, like, you know, if you’re in college and you can’t just throw it all to the side and not care about grades or school in general, if you have no other options, right, like if school is like the only thing you have going for you right now. Then please, by all means, like get the good grade. But if you have other options and other money making activities that don’t involve a dead end job, real entrepreneurial opportunities or other activities like that, if you have the opportunity to do work that matters for people who care, then that’s when you can reassess and prioritize Okay, what matters more here. Look when I didn’t have that option that first year. My grades were stellar, I focused. I studied. my grades

15:01
I mean, gosh, I wish I could tell you what my GPA was, but I was getting it, you know, an average semester for A’s and a B, right? Like I was, I was crushing it. And as soon as I did have those other options, and started to realize that those should probably take precedent, that’s when I did start focusing on those other things. And when I did, once I freed myself from caring about my GPA to caring about, like doing real work that matters for people who care. My GPA went from like a 3.4 to 2.8 real quick and, and I was like, good. This showcases all of the real work that I’ve done in the world, right. It’s a it’s a direct reflection of it.

15:43
Yeah. You know, I agree with everything that you’re saying. My main thing for college students is to know that they have options and to know what’s available and out there. If you’re more inclined to be an entrepreneur know that it’s possible even as a college student to pursue those goals of becoming an entrepreneur. But if you really enjoy your major and you really want to study it and the classroom setting is for you, by all means embrace it get that high GPA.

16:08
For me when I think about when I was in college, I had no idea what entrepreneurship was. nobody talked to me about it. My passions were in leadership development, and I didn’t know what that necessarily would look like in the future for me, but I was a psych major. So I thoroughly enjoyed that major, but if I knew what I know now, my activities in college would look a lot different than they did. So I think it’s important for the listeners to hear your story and to hear your thoughts about how you’re navigating your experience as a college student, and your entrepreneurial pursuits to just be informed as to what’s available. What you can do if you feel that inclination to pursue a different route. Certainly.

16:49
You mentioned that you do some cheerleading. Are you currently cheerleading or you stopped?

16:53
Nice. Did you enjoy it? Two years ago Oh, I very much. enjoyed it. I mean, it had its bad moments for sure. And and it’s drama especially towards the end, but overall, I’m so glad that I did it. I did it for freshman and sophomore year. It was fun.

17:15
I’m so shocked that you learn how to do a backflip— is it a backflip in two weeks?

17:20
Yeah.

17:21
Self-taught. Did you teach yourself?

17:22
No, no, no, of course. No. I mean, you got the whole team there. So I learned how to do it. I did it on the mat. And I was doing it perfectly it was so good. And then this first-year guy on the team as well, but he you know, he’d been doing backflips for a long time. He’s like “all right, go on the hardwood now”. And I done like three backflips ever successfully on the mat and like they were good, but he’s like, all right, hardwood, and I did one on the hardwood and bam hit my head.

17:49
And so for the next three months, I had to have a spotter every single backflip until I got over the fear of doing it on my own again. I was like I was set but then graduating to the heart but too early put this fear, I was struck with fear after. Fear was introduced to the equation where, you know, before it was like, I’m just having fun, I was an innocent little kid, you know, it’s very much like that. But I did eventually get over and I was self-sufficient once again, but it just, it was a longer road than before.

18:18
And I mean, that immediately caught my attention when I saw your pictures of all the stunts that you were part of. And I was like, that’s wonderful. I was a cheerleader as well, but in high school, so I thoroughly loved that experience. And I would have cheered in college, but I just didn’t, but I love cheerleading, and you want a fraternity. Tell me about that. What was that experience like?

18:38
I will say that I feel like I chose the wrong fraternity. If I wouldn’t do it over again, for the first semester, I would do nothing, right like fraternity wise, and just assess the situation and become more familiar with the different fraternities on campus. But I didn’t do that. I rushed the first week of school, and I was kind of like blind, you know? I was forced to make a decision in like five days, I just I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I mean, there were good and bad parts about it. But I do wish that I rushed second semester so that I would have had more clarity. I wish I had more context, you know?

19:18
Yeah. Awesome. So you were in a fraternity, did some cheerleading. Tell us about some of your businesses that you started.

19:26
Yeah, I mean, it just one thing led to another where I started this podcast. And it was bad in the beginning but started to get better. Started to take it more seriously. Started to have fun with it. And it was good, right? And it just started gaining traction over the past year and a half and in that time period, I got to the point where like, people were asking me all of these questions like how do you do this? How do you do that? How’d you do this in the beginning, like what do you use for this? And all the time in my inbox, I was like, okay, like the demand was there, right?

20:00
So that’s where this marketing and production agency for professional podcasters was born from. And so we’ve got an amazing course how to become a rock star podcaster. A free course that people have just been raving about since its release. It’s at JordanParis.com/course.

20:18
I’ve taken that course, it’s pretty dope.

20:20
And from there you I mean, you, you’re introduced, you know, if it’s the right fit, you know, it may not be in but if it’s the right fit, you’re introduced to what our services are. And yeah, so I love podcast right now. It’s not going to be forever, but I’m riding the wave. Yeah.

20:35
But for you, as you look at the point from where you started to now, do you feel like the success came rapidly? Did it start off slow for you at first and then picked up or how would you describe it?

20:47
It’s all relative.

20:47
Yeah.

20:48
It’s hard to say

20:49
It’s hard, yeah. It’s a paradox too. It happened really fast. But Gosh, like, took forever.

20:59
I know that feeling.

21:01
Yeah, it’s a paradox big time.

21:03
Yeah, gotcha. So anytime I see a successful person, I automatically think gosh, they must have gone through so many hurdles and setbacks and hardships and rejections and failures right to get to where they are now. Because success we know that it’s not a smooth journey. It’s not an easy journey. So I’m curious to know how you came to where you are and the hurdles that you probably overcame to reach this point of success?

21:28
Well, it’s difficult to think about any one “failure” or challeng. There’s been many micro challenges along the way when I do feel that sense of overwhelm after an apparent failure. I like to reset. I like to do a pattern interrupt because I’m probably not feeling my best. I’m feeling a little bit down most likely and so do a pattern interrupt and

21:51
yeah,

21:51
Pattern interrupt. Hmm, what does that look like?

21:55
Pattern interrupt is the intense exercise, nothing will get you right like an audio book by the pool. That’s good. I love doing that. It gets you right. Or going to the pool without your phone. How’s that for a concept? Right? Yeah. Oh, you don’t get to put it on your story.

22:16
Exactly.

22:16
Oh, no, that’s silly. But, but I like to do that. And then I will assess the situation. And oftentimes I need to learn something. To do this more successfully. I need to seek out the resources from people who ought to know‚ experts in the field. And I learned my way out of pain. And then I go down the path of action again, once I’ve done those things, and I’ve learned and yeah.

22:42
Awesome.

22:43
So throughout your college experience so far, can you describe any major experiences that you’ve had that really taught you a huge lesson that you carry with you until this day? It may not have been like a hardship or anything like that, but any pretty poignant or significant experience that you’ve had that means a lot to you and what you learn from it.

23:05
Now that one’s too silly.

23:08
I mean, I’ll say it anyway. But like, you know, I had to I had to learn the lessons in relationships. Like everyone does. And I was, you know, I was way too attached. I was like, so set on just having like, this great relationship, like it was all I wanted it was where my happiness was, but but oh my god, I was miserable. Like, I was like, crazy too. It was like, all I cared about. I was like, on this emotional roller coaster, like all day, every day, and it was just so toxic. And when someone would walk away, I think it’d be like, the end of the world, right? Like, but I look back on all of those failed relationships throughout college.

23:53
And I’m like, Wow, thank God, that that didn’t work out because X, Y and Z wouldn’t have happened. Thank God. And I see many people who I can think of a person in my head right now. But people that get into a relationship like the first week of college, and maybe there’s nothing wrong with this, but they’re in a relationship, like, for years throughout college, and they miss out on so many opportunities, so many opportunities to make friends, so many opportunities to get involved in extracurricular activities, but they don’t, because they have this comfort zone where they can go to this significant other and they don’t have to challenge themselves or be in uncomfortable situations or they don’t have to stretch themselves, they can just resort to this place of comfort, right with their significant other.

24:37
So I think had I been in a relationship all throughout college, or for any significant portion of it, nothing would have happened, right? There’d be no momentum right now. I’d probably be on the route to getting a job for $30,000 a year after graduation if I would even be lucky to do that. So thank God that I didn’t do that. And I started to put my happiness in other buckets. And I started to prioritize other things. I’m very thankful for all of that. It’ll happen in due time. It’s not something I stress about anymore. Very good.

25:10
I’m so glad you shared that story. Is that the one that you are hesitant to share about?

25:13
Yes.

25:14
Oh, I’m so glad you shared that. Because I think just in navigating relationships is quite difficult for a lot of young folks and just hearing about being able to step outside of your comfort zone and being grateful for whatever hard relationship experience that you had and learning from it and growing from it and knowing that it’s shaped who you are and your character. And I think it’s really important to be mindful of that. And it makes me also think about the idea that people are in your life for a reason, a season a lifetime. We know that common saying, and even though the relationship might have been short lived, that person was there for a reason, and they’re there to teach you a lesson and whatever that lesson you’ve gained, was meaningful for you to grow and learn from.

25:52
Yeah, you can always derive a lesson.

25:55
Absolutely. Jordan, you’ve shared so many great things. I want to move into the section where I ask you some rapid fire questions. Are you willing to answer some speedy questions for us? Of course. Okay, so Jordan, what’s your favorite TV series or movie about college life?

26:13
Well, I don’t watch TV.

26:16
You’re out there making money. You’re not watching TV.

26:19
You know, I watch one show in practical jokers. So let’s see.

26:25
What what station or channel?

26:27
Tru TV.

26:29
Okay, yeah, I’ve heard of that. Okay, very good. Have you ever been a prankster? This is not one of the questions.

26:34
Yeah, I won the class clown award in fourth grade. And I was funny in my younger years, and I still have my own sense of humor. It’s more I’m more keep it to myself and like, like one or two friends. I really don’t. I’m not like hilarious, but I don’t know. I enjoy The Onion on Twitter.

26:52
Yeah, I don’t know. I used to be a prankster. But I don’t do that stuff anymore. I’ve changed a lot but interesting. Very good. Okay, my next question was One of your favorite college memories?

27:05
Well, I was gonna say something inappropriate.

27:10
That’s, that’s what came to mind. I think that first, that first cheer practice that first week of school, you know, I was on the team and I was being introduced by the coach with 20 of the most gorgeous women on campus staring at me like “hi”. They’re like, why wide-eyed and like nervous and I like oh my god. and go you know, this is like, I gotta I gotta really make a good impression.

27:38
And they were very inviting. I remember that first practice coach Emily was like, “who wants to start with Jordan?” Yeah, I’m a new guy that doesn’t know how to do anything. It’s not like the safest You know, you’re probably gonna fall a little bit and I remember this girl Brittany. She’s like, “I will”, and she’s one of my best friends to this day. She was my stunt partner for those couple of years and we got really creative with our stunts. We had a good time over those couple of years and we’ve continued that over the next couple of years. And so I just always remember that first practice. Yeah.

28:18
Lifelong friend.

28:19
Yeah.

28:20
Did your wrist ever hurt you because of all that?

28:22
In the beginning, yes. You get used to it though. I don’t know, my wrist just really adapted to it. Some people, you know, they’ve been there for four years. Like they had to tape their wrists all the time. Like me they were always hurting. And I was like, I don’t know. Like I after that first week. I didn’t feel crap. Yeah, I was good.

28:38
You’re wrist got used to it, I guess.

28:39
Alrighty, so the next question. What’s one of the most courageous things you’ve done in college?

28:44
I think it is deciding to the cheer team. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, but if you’re a male cheerleader, there’s all sorts of negative connotations with being a male cheerleader. Like, like, oh, “is he gay?” You know, like, and I just, I didn’t care, right? Like I did not care at all. I was just doing me, having fun, staying in my lane, when most people would never consider being a cheerleader if the opportunity came to them for that very reason.

29:16
I have this bias and anytime I see male cheerleaders, I think that squad is about serious business. I don’t know why, where I got that from, but that’s what I always think like, yes, this is the real deal right here. Not that without males, it’s not the real deal.

29:30
It is serious business. Oh, yeah. That’s exactly the connotation that people should have. With it: it’s serious business.

29:37
Jordan, what’s one of your favorite classes in college and why? What is your favorite class or one of your favorite classes?

29:44
The only class I’ve enjoyed throughout four years is public speaking.

29:48
Yeah.

29:48
I thought you were gonna say something about marketing. And you said public speaking.

29:51
No, no no, the marketing concepts they teach you are from the 90s. They don’t work. Those are the worst classes actually. But public speaking, my gosh. And it’s so funny, in a class where you’re forced to be vulnerable, and expose yourself in front of a room like that. I’ve actually taken to public speaking classes, we all become friends. Yeah. As opposed to other classes, like, everyone’s a stranger, like nobody talks. Because you’re not forced to get vulnerable and put yourself out there. But this public speaking class where you’re forced to actually do, instead of just sit there and memorize regurgitated theory, is a very different world. And the bonds are so much stronger because of it.

30:33
I love it brought that up.

30:35
Vulnerability and the space to be vulnerable and engaging can even lead to lifelong friendships and greater learning. I’m so glad you brought that up.

30:43
Oh, yeah. Greater learning. I would look forward to those classes. Like, I love public speaking— that class. It’s great. Everyone should take it. Yeah.

30:51
But in terms of marketing, I think you should be like the guest lecturer or something?

30:56
Oh, I am! Oh, you are!

30:59
My father jokes that they should be paying you to go to college. Like, I know, I go in and teach on a specifically LinkedIn marketing, right? I go in and give a 50 minute lecture. I’ve been thinking about this, lately. I should change my teaching style to more doing, right. I’m a being a little bit of a hypocrite getting up there and talking for 50 minutes.

31:24
Well, it’s still fresh, new, and relevant, the things that you’re talking about?

31:28
Yeah, yeah, I feel like you know, me saying, Oh, I you know, I give 50 minute lectures at University on LinkedIn. It’s like a shrine to my ego to say 50 minutes lectures. Yeah. You know, like, I think there are better ways to go about it. I think I can make it more of a workshop sort of thing. Yeah.

31:45
Yeah, I could see that. I’ll definitely be taking your LinkedIn class, that’s for sure.

31:49
Well, you can it’s at JordanParis.com/LinkedIn.

31:52
That’s on my to do list.

31:53
I certainly have to get on that. Because you’ve had some wild success on LinkedIn. So I want the secrets too. What’s one piece of feedback you would tell yourself during your earlier years in college?

32:06
That’s a really tough question. I nailed a lot of things. I really did. I mean, and so I’m very grateful at the way things panned out. And I don’t know that I would change anything except just that, you know, waiting a semester to decide on a fraternity. That’s it. That’s the little little it’s a micro thing. But that’s it. That’s all I can think of.

32:28
Yeah, very good. Okay, who inspires you the most?

32:32
Oh, I have great role models in every area of my life. For communicating with people and people skills, I so look up to Vanessa Van Edwards. Her website is ScienceofPeople.com, and she helped me in a time of great need, and armed me with people skills and enabled me to make friends. I needed that, big time and I had her on the podcast. In networking, I really look up to Jordan Harbinger and my my friend David Berkus, and in writing, I look up to Dan Millman, author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior and Mark Manson, author of the Subtle Art of You know what?

33:10
Yeah, both of them have sold 10s of millions of copies of their books, and both of them are on the podcasts. So these are the people that I seek out learning resources from in all of those areas. Like these are the things I really care about. In the interviewing arena. I really look up to Joe Rogan. I think he’s a brilliant interviewer, but more of a conversationalist, because the conversations are three hours, he really finesses his way into asking the tough questions and getting people to really open up at some point over the course of those three hours. I really admire it. So many role models, so many people that inspire me.

33:50
Awesome. I have two more questions for you. What’s your favorite quote?

33:54
Some something on my desk here from Tim Ferriss. Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important? It sits on my desk. It’s been there for a year. I think about it every single day. Are you being busy? Or are you being productive? are you chasing field nice? Or are you eating something more substantial? Like what do- oh, antelope, it’s antelope vs field mice, right? So like, what are you eating? Are you a lion or a cat? If you’re a cat, you eat field mice, you’re busy. If you’re a lion, you eat antelope and you don’t need to catch like 50,000 antelope, right. But I just think of like, busyness is one of the most common forms of laziness- being busy. I constantly check myself throughout the day. Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important.

34:46
Do you feel like fear has something to do with that? Fear of stepping out of a comfort zone?

34:51
Yeah, it is. It’s easier to avoid the important and stay in my comfort zone because the important is often very challenging. It’s me trying to take the path of least resistance and avoid those hard things that I know I should do.

35:07
Right. It kind of reminds me of difference between being in motion versus progressing. Like you could be in motion aka busy all the time, but that doesn’t mean you’re progressing.

35:17
That’s exactly right.

35:18
Yeah. So my last question for you, if you could ask the listeners or my drivers one important question to think about what would it be?

35:26
Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?

35:28
Okay! Applying that quote! Awesome. Thank you so much, Jordan. You are so dope. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.

35:36
Hey, driver. I hope you enjoyed the session with Jordan Paris. My biggest message for you from this chat is to let you know that you have options you may think that college is the only path towards success, but it’s one option. My goal for you is to empower you to make an informed decision about whether you truly find value in the devoting your time and energy towards earning degrees, or if you find more meaning in doing work outside of a college setting, or if you want to dabble in more than one pursuit, it’s totally fine. Just know that the decision is all yours to make.

36:15
So that’s it for this session. I’m so thankful to my guest, Jordan, Paris for sharing his story today, I invite you to visit thriveinpodcast.com, where you’ll find loads of exciting resources just for you. If you so appreciate what you heard today, I encourage you to subscribe rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts. This will help other college goers learn about this show. Feel free to follow and like me on social media using the handle DRIJCLC, which represents Dr. IJ College Life Coach. Again, that’s DRIJCLC. Don’t forget to send me a message on topics you’d like me to speak about, and I’m wishing you a safe, happy, and thriving week. Join me for the next session. Love you.