“Most of what passes for morality is just obedient cowardice” - Jordan Peterson
Becoming formidable requires that you be dangerous. It requires that you develop the controlled capability to impose your will over a situation or an individual. With that control comes the ability to be truly good, because if you are out of control you are evil. If you are not dangerous then any lack of evil is not out of merit but weakness and there is nothing admirable about weakness driven lifestyles. When I'm talking about danger I don't mean in a physical sense though that can be true as well. I mean that you have maximized your potential in an area and have it completely in control.
Think for a moment about the innocents of children. They have a reason for their weakness, that being lack of experience. They still haven't yet hit the time when they need to be dangerous, so really they are developing danger. Their goodness manifests in obedience, this is critical because it means they can learn to be dangerous. Before you question something you first need to be instructed in it and therefore have a frame of reference for it. This same blind obedience in adults, however is despicable. For they ought to know how and what to question. As Paul says when he became a man he put away childish things. Do you want to become formidable? Don’t follow the whims of those around you in the name of harmony. Confront and master your own ability to be evil by being purposefully blind and also by not being in control.
When you are young you are only weak because you haven’t begun yet. No matter how successful you are you, everyone trades their youth for something, if that isn't currency either monetary, relational or intellectual then what is the purpose behind your trade? For successful people that trade is made by giving up promising youth for wealthy age. For the trades man, its to master a craft. The question then needs to be asked, have you made a good trade?
Everyone has the capacity to make themselves into a world wide influence. Becoming formidable is a choice. More than that it is one best made early in life. Even if you aren’t going to become a world wide influence you can inspire those who will be. This is achieved by living your life in a manner worthy of admiration. To be worthy of admiration at some level you have to stand for what you believe in, refuse to play popularity games, seek the adventure of a life fully lived, tell the truth, and become formidable.
The development of the formidable individual is the original and best use for a university. It ought to be a place where you can discover that there is more to you than mediocrity. It should be a place where you are socially accepted as a benefit to society, in training. Somewhere you can go and become more articulate, intelligent, informed and passionate. When you leave college, real life shouldn’t be a slap in the face, it should be a “finally I’ve made it where I’ve been preparing to go!” That transition ought to bring about the benefit of others. You should bring the value of you everywhere you go, not the average of a person whose ideas have been subdued.
There is nothing better than to know what you believe and be able to communicate it effectively. That ability doesn’t come from a victim minded belief system that push this "I've been wronged!" Rather it comes form the discovery that you have something inside of you worth developing and that it will bring about a better possible future. Don’t play the victim. There is no greater advice to success than that. Take personal responsibility for the areas you seek to affect change.
More than that, learn about more than what is in your specific purview. Knowing more than what is in your area of expertise allows you to piece together this puzzle we call life. Learn more than you could ever possibly communicate, so that when you communicate, it is out of the abundance of a well learned mind, not the ignorance of one dimensional goal.