College graduation season is here so I thought I would
reflect on my past to see what I would recommend to my 22 year old self.
1.
Build relationships and network your ass off. Join key organizations in your area/profession
and build relationships with influential people. --- it took me ~6 years to realize I needed
to build “My Brand” to get noticed by others (and building a brand doesn’t
happen overnight and you need to continue to do it your entire career).
2.
It is okay to fail --- when you fail and it will
happen, re-group and move on. Reliving
the failure over and over in your head will just stress you out.
3.
Create a repository of your learnings as you
move forward. --- as the years pass you
will attend conferences, classes, learn things from others and you need a place to save those learning like
a blog, a folder on your desktop or in the cloud.
4.
If you see an issue, make it your problem ---
doing this will get you noticed in your organization.
5.
Losing your job is not the end of the world ---
when that company you work for is sold and you and the rest of your co-workers
are out of a job … enjoy life! Spend
some me time because you have built your brand and you have a great network.
6.
Determine what it will really take to retire ---
you can create a spreadsheet right? The
earlier you realize you need to save more than 5% of your salary to better off
you will be.
7.
Know your profession --- if your profession is
moving towards having a certain type of certification, go out and get it!
8.
Treat your job as a vocation not an occupation
--- it is a learning process … your job is really a class room to learn and
teach.
9.
Knowing when to sever all ties --- know when the
ship is sinking and be ready to jump!
1
Exercise! --- you thought the freshmen 15 was bad
… just wait … join some sport teams … play … have fun … and network your ass
off!
#IfIWere22
