Come chat with me tonight!?

In honor of the official book launch today, I will be the guest of the #CollegeCash Twitter Chat at 10pm EST tonight (3/15/12)! Have you ever done a Twitter chat? I just started last month and they are addicting! They are an incredible way to learn, network, make friends, and connect with like-minded people.

I hope you'll join me on the #CollegeCash chat! You can get a sneak peek into key advice I share in the book, and ask me any questions!

If you're new to Twitter chats, check out this great article by Forbes that will tell you exactly what to do, and why they're so beneficial.

See you tonight on #CollegeCash at 10pm EST!!!

Why I wrote this book - The Facts

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am incredibly passionate about community college success.

The data out there about community colleges only serves to fuel that passion, because it highlights community college access and the need for increased educational equality and economic opportunity in our country. 

So here are the facts – all of these come from either the American Association of Community Colleges or the United States Census Bureau. 

The percentages of adults in the US holding Bachelor’s degrees breaks down as: 34% of non-Hispanic whites, 20% of blacks, 14% of Hispanics. I think all three of those numbers are representative of the need for an increased educational opportunity in our country.

The average wage for those with high school diploma only in 2010 was $31,000 per year. The average holder of an associate degree increases their annual earnings by almost $8,000 per year over those with only high school diplomas. And those with a Bachelor’s degree earn an average salary of $58,000 per year. Those income gaps make a compelling case for higher education. 

More than 12.4 million students attend community college each year; one of the main reasons for this is that community college enrollment increases the number of students accessing higher education in the United States by 56%.  Community colleges are often overlooked - and yet they can't afford to be anymore because of the massive opportunity and access granted by these institutions. 

Forty-two percent of first-generation college students, the first in family to attend or graduate college (like myself), attend community college. Community colleges actively help people break through glass ceilings and break cycles of poverty. 

More than 40% of undergraduate students who live in poverty attend community college. Again, community colleges open access to opportunity.  Because each year, community colleges award 932,000 degrees or certificates, granting almost one million people license to enter economic doors that were previously closed. 

Ultimately, I care about these facts because I truly care about the people that they represent. I was (and will always be) a part of those statistics.

People and the relationships we build determine so much of the world that we live in – the advice I offer in my book was written solely because I think that everyone deserves a chance to pursue their dreams, regardless of where they start their college experience.

Because as so many before me have said, it isn’t where you start, it is where you finish. 

And to get to the places where you want to finish, you have to cultivate relationships with those around you while building yourself academically and professionally. 

I hope you get a chance to read my book – I truly offered every bit of advice I could to help guide students to success. 

I look forward to hearing what you think on our Facebook page, and appreciate your support more than you know. 

Happy launch day!

Why I wrote Community College Success - Book Trailer 2

Today's Three for Thursday is a special one - because today marks the official launch date of the book Community College Success, now available on Amazon.com & BarnesandNoble.com!!! 

So in celebration, I will be posting three separate articles today featuring exciting things about the book. I hope you enjoy the first one below! :)

Why I wrote Community College Success - Book Trailer 2! 

Community College Success: The Book Trailer

Hi everyone! As you may have heard on this blog, my book Community College Success, published by Norlights Press, will release on March 15th, 2012.

I am very excited to share this with you - I appreciate all of your support. Here is a short trailer put together for the book.

I hope you enjoy!

Finding feedback in your life

With the return of the NBA and college bowls and professional football playoffs going strong (I'm watching the Steelers play the Broncos right now), I can’t help but remember how I used to view the role of the coach.

Naively, when I was young, when my dad would watch sports on our TV, I would sit wondering why coaches were needed. Most of the coaches didn’t even look athletic, and I just didn’t understand the point. 

The players could play the game by themselves, right?  

Of course not.

The truth is: athletes need coaches because players are too close to the game to always see the big picture. 

And sometimes, its not just one coach.  Whenever I am watching football, I notice how, in addition to the coaches on the sideline, there are also coaches/coordinators who sit high above the field and call out advice from radios and phones. They are able to give a unique and valued perspective.

And they are integral in helping teams win games.

And now I think about how this same concept works in our lives.  So many times, we are too close to our own situations, our own habits, our own behaviors - and often need someone else to help us see the bigger picture. 

And yet, too often, we think we can play the game all by ourselves and don’t need anyone in our lives to tell us what to do – or how to improve.

So, every once in a while, we need to ask ourselves: 

Do I have a coach in my life? Someone who can see my life from a vantage point – a unique perspective?  Sometimes we’re so busy playing on the field that we forget to ask for advice.

And what we forget is that coaches can see and draw out potential in us that we didn’t know we had - just like coaches do with professional athletes. 

For example, one of my good friends started using a running coach a few months ago and went from running a 15 minute mile to running a 7 minute mile and completing her first half-marathon. I asked her how in the world that was possible and she said it was because her coach told her he knew she was capable of more and pushed her to believe in herself in a way she told me she never had before. She started to believe that she had that running capability in her. He coached her. And  - the most crucial part – she listened. 

And that's the catch - getting any sort of coaching or criticism in life is really hard (e.g. think about reading those red marks on an essay or hearing a friend tell you how you hurt them with your behavior). It almost never feels good. And truthfully it probably never will. 

However – those who really succeed in life are those who listen to and act on coaching and feedback. 

It’s the only way to improve.

I thought a lot about this when I recently had my book edited. I sought out students and professors and friends to edit the book before I sent it off to the publisher. I didn’t have to do this. And to be honest I didn’t want to because I knew – no matter how much I needed and wanted it – the editing process would be painful. And it was. But it made the book better. 

Now, of course, you shouldn’t always listen to every voice of criticism or feedback in your life. In fact, it is essential that you develop your own sense of self -- know what advice to take and what advice to leave behind.  But often the instinct in life is to feel defensive and ignore almost any source of criticism in your life - and that is the instinct you want to resist. 

The trick is to be brave enough to take feedback from people you trust.

The simplest way to do so: just ask yourself - does the person have my best interest in mind? 

While sometimes there will be feedback that can be hard to take, it is the only way to truly improve. And the best part is -- coaches can bring out potential in you that you didn’t know you had.

The greatest athletes do not achieve that level of performance on their own. They have coaches. Often the best coaches. Why should life be any different?

Who is influencing your life? Who are you asking advice from? Find yourself some great coaches (a great place to start is with your college advisors and professors). Ask them for help, have the courage to listen, and have the diligence to act. You have no idea what kind of potential and greatness they will be able to draw out of you.

Because it is there - sometimes we just need someone else's help to realize it :)

My book Community College Success will teach you how to find these types of coaches in your life and how to create relationships that lead to your great success. You can enter to win a free autographed copy of the book in the e-mail sign up at the top left-hand corner of the blog. The book will be available on Amazon.com March 15, 2012! :)

Would you like to be in a book?

This week is your chance to have your success story and advice in my book Community College Success that will be released this March 2012 and has already been endorsed by bestselling authors like Brian Tracy, Cal Newport, Alexandra Levit, and Dan Pink!

"Isa Adney's book should be required reading for any student thinking about community college."-- Cal Newport, author of How to Become a Straight-A Student

"Community College Success proves it's not where you start but how you finish. If you want to finish college with great success you must read this book" - Pat Williams, author of Read Your Life: 11 Ways to Better Yourself Through Books


“This practical book is loaded with proven tools and techniques to help you make the connections that can turbo charge your career.” -- Brian Tracy, author of Earn What You're Really Worth


I'll be compiling all of the student testimonials in the survey below together into the final manuscript this week. If you haven't yet please share your story. It doesn't take long and you could inspire more people than you know with what you've uniquely been through, learned, and achieved. I know there is a lot other students could learn from both your struggles and your successes. Please don't keep them all to yourself :) 


Thank you so much!!


Share your story here --> (note you do not have to answer all the questions...only the ones that where you feel you have something to say) http://app.getresponse.com/survey.html?survey_id=8996

Please share your opinion =)

I'm in the final stages of choosing the title for my book and I want your help :) Please click the link below to answer the really quick multiple choice question to choose your favorite subtitle (the main title will be Community College Success). If you have any other title ideas there will be a space for you to share those too - or you can e-mail me at isa@communitycollegesuccess.com.

Thank you so much!

Click here to choose your favorite subtitle for the Isa's Community College Success book

**Also please note the Weekend 4Cast will be going on hiatus until January. My book is due then and I'm having to simplify some things in order to have time to get it all done =) In the meantime be sure to check out the archives.

I want to know about YOU :)

So I'm always talking about my stories on this blog but now I want to know more about you. What is really important to you in your life right now? What are you going through? What might you need help with? What has worked well for you? What hasn't?

I'd really love to know your thoughts. Please fill out this really quick 10-question survey I made (your answers will be anonymous) and let me know what you're dealing with so I can better serve you. I may be contacting some of you to even be in my book!

I know you're incredibly busy so taking time to complete this survey means the world to me. Thank you SO much :)

One of My Biggest Dreams Has Come True – And Yours Can Too

Do you have dreams that you never tell anyone?

Not the kind that happen when you sleep, but the kind that tug on your heart. Those deep wishes you have for your life. Those things that you sometimes try to push away because they seem too stupid, too unrealistic, something for someone else – not you.

I used to do that all the time. I’ll never forget in 9^th grade when we had to write – using all our senses – what our life would look like in 10 years. 

I remember the white flowy curtains, the condo overlooking the bright blue ocean and sky, the line between them almost indistinguishable. And I remember writing a book at my desk. I was an author.

Aside from turning that assignment in I never talked about my dream of writing a book. It just seemed silly.  And so I never thought about it again.

Until one day in a College Success class at my community college. We were asked to write down declarative goals for our life.

All of a sudden I remembered that 9^th grade assignment.

So I wrote it down: I will write a book.

And then last year, I wrote it down for the third time. This time, I printed it out and taped it all over my apartment. Now my walls were keeping me accountable and it was time to move forward.  The goal was all over the place on little yellow post-its:

Have book published by August 2011.

And on August 30^th exactly – I got the e-mail from my agent saying a publisher wanted my community college success book and would be sending the contract over shortly.

The reality of this still hasn’t fully hit me. The image of that young woman in her beachside condo writing a book has always been so vivid to me – and deep down it’s always seemed like someone else. And now I can hardly believe it’s actually me.

While I don’t live on the beach (yet) I’m writing you right now starting at the pond outside my window (close enough…for now) and realizing that I wrote that “what will your life be like in 10 years” assignment when I was 14. My book is being published at age 24.

If you do the math correctly, this will tell you that writing your goals down actually works. And more than that, believing in yourself  (even when you feel doubtful) is key.

How do you picture your life in a few years? What do you see? What do you smell? How do you feel?

What do you want?

Picture it. Taste it. Feel like it’s already your life.

Write it down.

And then believe you can do it. And go.  

College can be starting off point for your dreams. If it is anything less then why bother?

Making your dreams a reality is so easy it’s almost scary. The problem is so many of us get hung up in our own heads, our own negative thinking. The first and most important step is truly believing you are capable of reaching that goal.

Step 1 - Imagine what you want your life to be. How do you feel? What is around you? How are you contributing to the world?

Step 2 – Write it down. All of it.

Step 3 – Start talking about your dreams to other people. And like Yoda says, stop yourself from using the word “try.”

Step 4 - Start doing something today that moves you towards that goal.

Step 5 – Remember that failure is a good sign - it means you’re trying.

Step 6 – Keep going. Every day.

If you'd like to be a part of my book dream and be the first to know when my book will be available, what it's all about, and learn about ways you can get involved - join my mailing list in the top right-hand corner =) Thanks!