What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

I was talking to a young friend recently who was sorting out for himself what he wanted to do with his career after finishing his four year degree. I pointed out to him that when I was at that stage in my life, I had no real idea what I wanted to do. Here are some things to point out to recent graduates:

Figure Out What You DON'T Want to Do
Nowadays, there are so many options open to recent graduates, given the information glut we wade through every day, it can be hard to know what you want to do. The trick in life is to get paid for what you love to do, and it just so happens the things you love to do are probably the things you do best anyway. That's where our talents lie. It follows, therefore, that knowing what you really don't want to do, because it just rubs you the wrong way, helps you narrow the field of what your future should probably hold.

Give Yourself Some Time
I admire people with the focus in life to know what they want to do from a young age. I was not one of them. It's taken me a number of years to grow into my prime niche, and I had to find my way by trial and error (and more error). I've made progress by doing what seemed to me to be the next correct step, and I made up my business as I went along. I met great people, learned from great people and carved out a way of using my talents in ways that my clients seem to appreciate and value. Every experience along the way has been helpful to me, and I've learned more from my failures perhaps than from my successes.

Make an Aptitude for Change One of Your Core Competencies
In this modern, global economy, change and potential dislocation are the norm. The question is not "what your career will be," but what your "careers will be." I know many professionals who make unanticipated changes during their mature years. I have forty years behind me, and while I expect to continue to do what I am doing in some form or other, my company allows me the flexibility to take on new kinds of projects as I learn and grow. Most people work for other people and companies, so they need to be flexible enough to keep learning, remaining open to new things, because change will come, and it won't always announce it's arrival in advance. If you can make a penchant for adaptability one of your core abilities, you will have the best chance to succeed at any point in the life cycle of your career(s).

Make Lots of Friends
The other key part of success in an age of dynamic dislocation is to cultivate a wide array of friends and contacts in many walks of life. Social capital is real capital. Don't just get to know people who you think can help you in the short term: you may develop a reputation for being solely self-interested, which can hurt you in the long run. Get to know all kinds of people. Find out what they like to do, what interests them, what they take pride in. You never know when that understanding may help you put other people together in a way that helps them both. When you build up a lifetime of doing things like that, many people will be interested in helping to catch you before you fall when unwelcome change comes your way. And it will.

Find Mentors Who Help You Cultivate Your Strengths
The best mentors are not the ones who tell you, "This is how I did it," though experience from others is helpful. Role models count for a lot. But beyond that, the best mentors ask questions like, "What's been your best recent success? What made it successful? What were you doing that you enjoyed the most? What did you learn along the way? What could you have done better? What do you think your strengths are?" Those are just a few. In other words, the best metors help you discover your own way to success, rather than offering you their way. If you can find people like that, hang on to them. Wisdom is always more valuable than mere information.

Good luck, recent graduates!