Episode 25 — Are You Living Someone Else’s Definition of Success? —with Ethan Knight - a podcast by Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC

from 2020-08-11T00:00

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It can be so easy to take on everyone’s ideas and opinions. Do this, do that, work here, don’t go there...It can be good to hear different ideas and backgrounds but at the end of the day it’s your life to live and not theirs. Their definition of success and fulfillment might not be what works for you.

Ethan Knight, Founder and Executive Director of the Gap Year Association, grew up thinking he needed to follow a set path to ‘succeed’ in life. It wasn’t until Ethan’s first gap year while in college when his idea of success for himself really changed and allowed him to realize that he was living someone else’s definition of success. His journey really took off from there and his passion for gap year experiences and traveling has never stopped growing. He’s since then traveled to more than 50 countries, co-authored the Fair Trade Learning Standards and the Gap Year Standards, launched two nonprofits, one college, and three for-profit organizations. Not only has Ethan helped lead students while traveling abroad, he also has professionally supported more than 2,000 students on their own gap year experiences.

On this episode of Success is Subjective, Ethan joins Joanna to share his journey going from following the herd in college, to coming to find his own version of success through his gap year experiences. Ethan’s time off of college led him to the amazing work he does now helping students from all backgrounds. Listen in for Ethan’s insight on going against the herd mentality and living out your own definition of success.

What You Will Learn

  • What it means to be raised “educationally affluent”
  • Dealing with parents getting a divorce at the age of 12 
  • How Ethan got introduced to the idea of a gap year for the first time  
  • “Mom, I want to go on a gap year.”  How parents can respond when their adult child says I want to defer to take a break from college.  
  • What it means to “follow the herd” in going to college 
  • How shocking it’d be if you calculate the amount of money per minute for a college instruction, especially if a student isn’t taking their studies seriously!
  • When Ethan decided to take a gap year in college. Taking a break from college is okay, but you must have a plan! 
  • How to properly take a gap year abroad in the middle of college
  • Being introduced to different ways of life 
  • You cannot live out someone else’s definition of success.  That is not success. 
  • How much ownership Ethan had coming back to college after his gap year experience
  • Going on to do a study abroad program junior year
  • What it means to go from park to drive in your life
  • The Gap Year Association’s collection of the College Deferral Process
  • The major benefits that most people see from a gap year. College can wait! 

Connect with Ethan Knight

Connect with Joanna Lilley  

Further episodes of Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay

Further podcasts by Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC

Website of Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC