If I were 22 …

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