Graduation is here! As you are sitting around studying for finals, in the back of your head must be a persistent thought like, “Oh s#!%, now what?”
Being back in school later in life, at 34, I got to live through some of the things that you first time grads are just getting prepared for. From joining the U.S. Navy out of high school, running a couple multi-million dollar companies, traveling to 27 countries and owning a couple businesses of my own I have pretty much been there and done that.
Here are a few lessons I learned along the way that should help you out as you roll into the “real world.”
Stay free. Probably the worst situation to be in is not only the easiest to avoid but is one of the biggest temptations here in the good ole U.S. of A. Stay out of debt. Avoid it like the plague. It acts as an anchor around your neck, keeps you in jobs you hate and makes you miss opportunities that you would have loved to take. You end up saying things like, “Damn I wish I didn’t have this mortgage, car payment, gold digging girlfriend. I would love to take off to Kathmandu and study beetles.”
Stay focused on the prize. The philosopher, Goethe said, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” The prize is fulfilling your dreams. Go after them and don’t let others’ ideas of what is right for you interfere with what is actually right for you. It sucks to be that guy that wakes up at 60 and thinks, “What the hell have I done with my life?” Try and be that person who wakes up at 60 and thinks, “Holy Toledo, I am in Kathmandu studying fricking dung beetles and I just climbed K2 yesterday. I wonder what is going to happen tomorrow?”
Stay loose. Trying to put together a 20-year plan is like building a sand castle just so you can knock it over. The winds change direction and so will you. Sometimes you have to say F*#$ it and let things play out how they will. Don’t always fight the feeling and let yourself move about at will. Try not get too serious about a “serious relationship.” Call me a romantic but that perfect woman or man is out there for you. Most likely you will bump into them while hitchhiking from Budapest to Prague or hiking in Yosemite. Keep your options open and meet as many people as possible. Listen often; it is the most important thing you can do in a conversation and you will learn a ton more than when you talk. On a side note, I did not meet the girl of my dreams while hitchhiking Eastern Europe. I did meet a truck driver who only spoke Romanian, but knew every word to every Brittany Spears song. We sang an awesome duet for a few hours on the road. It was glorious and I broke several ribs laughing.
Stay young. Growing up is pretty much the most idiotic term ever conceived. All the things that you enjoyed doing while you were a kid, keep doing them. All the things that your parents try and convince you to do, like being unhappy, refrain. Have you ever noticed that kids for the most part are pretty darn happy even when the conditions are not ideal? I saw tons of kids playing with a metal pie pan and a string in Vietnam and they were barefoot, dirty, poor and insanely happy.
Stay on the road. Travel as often as possible. Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Meeting new people and discovering how they live, think and act is paramount to you having a full and wonderful life. If I could chose one thing on this list it would be travelling. Travelling made everything else possible.
Lastly, stay you. If I have learned anything at all from the people I have met here and all over the world is that all of us have something to offer. Yep, even the guy I saw picking his nose in the quad this morning. That guy has something to give too.
Other than that just try and treat people well. Smile more, laugh often, let things go, be beautiful in the ways that count, and try and not take life too serious, you probably are not going to make it out alive. Yeah, and that’s what he said. Happy Summer!
The Lumberjack > Opinion > Columns
That's What He Said! // Staying Small in a Big World
Published: Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 23:05
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4 comments
Excellent advice.
I would add only one more suggestion: Read. Read a lot, and read with variety; read especially that which you might expect to challenge to your opinions and beliefs. And first of all, since you're already here, read this article.