I am giving a talk to a bunch of high school seniors about personal productivity and life skills as they prepare to enter college next semester. I wanted to ask for some help.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself a few months before high school graduation?
Specifically I’m looking for productivity advice related to college and entering the work force.
Here are a few things I wish I had known:
- Don’t expect other people to keep records for you. Keep copies of your transcripts, employment agreements, paycheck stubs, homework grades, etc. It doesn’t matter if other people are supposed to keep those records or not, take responsibility for your own paper trail.
- Use a single calendar and keep it with you. When you get an assignment for work or school write it down immediately. Do not expect to remember.
- Study hard, but make friends. Most people under-estimate the value of college friendships and over-estimate the value of always getting an A.
- Be who you want to become. The habits you develop in college can be very difficult to break later in life. If you find yourself always being late, don’t expect to be able to break the habit later. Break it now. Don’t start destructive habits thinking you will just stop them later.
- Do some things that are hard. I remember taking a 3 hour US history course crammed into 5 days. It was intense and for years later, it was the most difficult class I had ever taken. It stretched me and whenever I thought something was hard, I’d think to myself “but it isn’t nearly as hard as that US history class I managed to pass”.
What suggestions do you have? Are there anythings you wish you had known, but didn’t? Are there any things you learned the hard way? Please leave your suggestions and stories in the comments.
Don’t rush…
(1) No one, and no employer, cares that you finished your bachelors degree in 2 or 3 years. Take 5 years if you want. Might as well enjoy it for as long as you can.
(2) Sock away $2-$4k a year into a Roth-IRA. Even if you have work part time to earn such a little amount. It will allow you to retire before 50.
(1) Be flexible with yourself. Not everyone knows exactly what they want to be when they are 18. Take different courses in college and let yourself change majors, change colleges, and take longer to graduate if you need to. Get a degree you want, not one you don’t just b/c you want to make lots of money or finish in 4 years.
(2) Start thinking about your what your online presence looks like. I work in a dean’s office and undergrads who are applying for jobs and scholarships are routinely googled and their facebook profiles are looked at. Have your own professional website with your real name so that it comes up in google first. Keep anything you don’t want future employers or professors to see (like blogs) anonymous.
(3) Anything worth having is going to be hard work– work hard on what you want and don’t give up. The difference between those who “succeed” (finish a phd, for example) and those who don’t is often just persistence. Figure out what you want, and don’t give up no matter what.
I heard this somewhere and it makes me realize the little things do matter.
Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny
1. Learn as much as you can about personal finance – start saving for retirement and your dreams, PROTECT YOUR CREDIT, carry life insurance.
2. TRAVEL, see the world!
Join clubs and get summer internships in fields you are looking into, even if they are unpaid, because it will look better to employers than that summer job that pays more but isn’t in an applicable area.
1. Get to know at least one of your professors well; you’ll gain insight into academia as well as careers.
2. Become fluent in at least one foreign language, both speaking and writing. Take advantage of a university program to spend a summer or semester in a country where you will be speaking the language on a daily basis.
3. Take a course or two in economics or political theory. This is the best chance you’ll have to get some frameworks for understanding what’s going on in the real world.
4. Find a fitness activity you enjoy (martial arts, swimming, running, modern dance) and do it several times a week. You’ll be able to come back to it later in life when fitness is more important, but more difficult to achieve.
Network, network, network! Join different types of activities but in areas of interest that may help you in a future career. For example, my son went to Loyola U. in Chicago for undergrad work and De Paul U. also in Chicago for his MBA. He now has two different, but very valuable spheres of influence and contacts…all on top of major contacts from Fenwick HS from which have graduated former Mc Donald’s Chairman, former Sear Chairman, and former Montgomery Wards chairman, just to name a few. Market yourself relentlessly because after all there are only two types of people in the world–movers and shaker and those that are moved and shaken.
Don’t rush any decisions, life is not passing you by and waiting a year at your age will save you from wasting decades when you’re middle aged.
Do the work that you love, not the work that pays the best.
Marry the person that makes you crazy when you’re not around her and makes time irrelevant when you are with her. You’re not on “Deal or No Deal” and you don’t have to pick the case that you perceive is the best compromise between what’s left and what has already been opened.
Be as patient and gracious to others as you would like them to be toward you. Dealing with financial aid, registration, insurance and all the “adult” things you will encounter will be frustrating, but do not resort to personal attacks. If the person helping you is doing their best be understanding, if they are not doing their best let them know how you feel and what you would like them to do, but do not attack them personally. Not only is it right to treat another human being with respect, but there might be an important time in the future when your graciousness will be repaid.
Listen, listen, listen when someone with experience is teaching you how to find your way through paperwork, beaucracy, or finances. There will come a time in the future when the information is invaluable, even taking notes might be a good idea.