6 successful people reveal what they wish they had known in college

"I wish I'd known not to buy into the collective delusion that burnout is the necessary price we have to pay for success. I now know that I still would have achieved whatever success I have, but I would have done it with more joy, more happiness, and with less of a cost to my health and my relationships."

"I had a packed schedule of core business classes at Cornell, yet always found that my favorite classes were electives like 'Great Books' where I read classics like Moby Dick and Shakespeare. Sometimes you just need to slow down, not worry so much about what you’re 'supposed to be' learning, and explore what else interests you. You might be surprised.

"Also, my first few years out of college were a fantastic whirlwind of living in Aspen, Maui, Seattle and then back to NYC. I’ll never forget when I was leaving Seattle for New York, my mentor said to me, 'You’re too young and stupid to appreciate this today, but someday you’ll realize, real learning happens when you see the seasons change and you’re sitting in the same chair.'

"Eighteen years later, still in New York working with [Shake Shack founder] Danny Meyer and seeing what we’ve built, I know he was right."

"My parents were both originally from China, so although I was born and raised in the US, I was instilled with the idea that the important thing in life was to work hard and that rewards would come from that hard work.

"It was not until later that I really started to believe that a big factor in one's success has to do with relationships and politics. Throughout my young life and college days, I thought that hard work and commitment were the things that would get me ahead.

"I wish I knew then that it is what you know, but it is also about the politics of a situation. This is true no matter if it very localized between a few people, or on a macro scale."

"I studied journalism in college, and had dreams of being a broadcast journalist and changing the world through my hard-hitting stories. I got a local news job out of school, and within a few years realized that covering hurricanes, fires, and traffic accidents wasn't what I had dreamed it up to be. It felt like failure to me because I had only focused on one particular outcome. It was only years later that I realized how much I had learned in that job that colors the way I work today.

"In college, I wish I'd known that it's less important to focus on what you want to be, and more important to focus on what you want to learn through experience. The most interesting and fulfilling careers take lots of left and right turns, and it takes curiosity, openness and occasional failure to create the best opportunities."

"You don't figure out who you really are until your late 20s and early 30s. Don't try to do it too soon. It is much more important to be headed in the right direction than to get there as fast as possible."