The condensed version.
If someone was going to pay you $50k to speak at a college graduation, what would you tell the new graduates?
Me?
1. Don't make career decisions based on the short-term. Have a long term goal of where you want to be professionally, then work backwards to get to the role that you can get hired for. If you don't know yet, then make decisions based on developing, then building on skills, rather than jumping between unrelated things. Too many people jump for the shot of extra cash but don't realize they're making the wrong decision for the long term. Generally, I'd take a bump in title over a bump in cash.
2. To me, the whole point of living is to collect as many good memories - and good stories - as you can. You could live to be 100 years old and accumulate millions of dollars, but none of it means anything if no one wants to sit and listen to you tell stories of the stuff you did and saw, or the situations that you got yourself into, and out of. Always take the chance to do something that could result in a really good story to tell later on.
3. Don't ever look down at people that you think are "beneath" you. A) You might be wrong and misjudge someone who would have been willing and able to help you out or benefit you, B) Not everyone has the same set of skills and attributes, and "intelligence" and "success" can be measured in a lot of different ways - plus, if they really have limitations, it might not be something they can control or correct, C) Most likely that person has other people (spouse, kids, parents) that love them and depend on them and think they're the biggest, most important person in the world - don't ever be the one to crap all over that, and D) People will see how you treat other people and base their opinions of you, and their future interactions with you, on those opinions - which will be almost impossible to change.
That's what I've got - anyone else?
If someone was going to pay you $50k to speak at a college graduation, what would you tell the new graduates?
Me?
1. Don't make career decisions based on the short-term. Have a long term goal of where you want to be professionally, then work backwards to get to the role that you can get hired for. If you don't know yet, then make decisions based on developing, then building on skills, rather than jumping between unrelated things. Too many people jump for the shot of extra cash but don't realize they're making the wrong decision for the long term. Generally, I'd take a bump in title over a bump in cash.
2. To me, the whole point of living is to collect as many good memories - and good stories - as you can. You could live to be 100 years old and accumulate millions of dollars, but none of it means anything if no one wants to sit and listen to you tell stories of the stuff you did and saw, or the situations that you got yourself into, and out of. Always take the chance to do something that could result in a really good story to tell later on.
3. Don't ever look down at people that you think are "beneath" you. A) You might be wrong and misjudge someone who would have been willing and able to help you out or benefit you, B) Not everyone has the same set of skills and attributes, and "intelligence" and "success" can be measured in a lot of different ways - plus, if they really have limitations, it might not be something they can control or correct, C) Most likely that person has other people (spouse, kids, parents) that love them and depend on them and think they're the biggest, most important person in the world - don't ever be the one to crap all over that, and D) People will see how you treat other people and base their opinions of you, and their future interactions with you, on those opinions - which will be almost impossible to change.
That's what I've got - anyone else?
