Four D's for New Graduates

As you graduate, I want to send a huge congratulations your way and offer you a few words to help you into your next journey, wherever that path may take you. I encourage you to have direction, be doers, avoid doubters and don’t stop pursuing your life’s calling.

As a student, you have taken classes that were required for you to complete your particular curriculum. At times you were assigned which classes to take and at other times you could choose what classes you were going to be in. However, for the most part, your path was pretty much laid out in front of you. You could nudge the compass a little in either direction but not much. However, as a new graduate you are completely responsible for navigating your career.

Direction

Whether you are a new graduate or one that is currently working, the attainment of your degree is an outstanding achievement in and of itself. However, after you have celebrated, I suggest you start thinking about the direction you are going to take with your career.

For some, your direction is already clear, but others may need to think about the who, the what, and the where for their next steps. If you are little frightened about next steps, do not worry because you are capable of putting together a plan for your career. Aside from my book on Career Strategic Planning, there are other resources out there to assist you including your school's Career Placement Office. There is a lot of opportunity out there, so be true to yourself and choose a direction which reflects your authentic self.

Doer

In terms of being a doer, this means that you should aspire to do things above and beyond the minimum required. In your work situations, do not sit and wait for others to take initiative or wait to be directed to do a task, rather be a doer and complete that task. You may not receive kudos each time you do a task but that is not the goal here, rather the goal is for you to develop a work ethic that will lay the foundation for you to get better at a multitude of tasks. However, while you may not receive kudos for each task, your work performance will be noticed by those around you which will increase your value to the organization, and more importantly, increase your sense of self-worth.

Doubters

Avoiding doubters may or may not be something you have dealt with already. If not, I want to encourage you to push past any negativity regarding your capabilities. Some people will be negative under the guise of love, “this is the infamous I love you and do not want to see you fail”. However, this phrase right here can really prevent you from getting out of your safe place. I ‘d rather hear my haters and enemies telling me what I cannot achieve because I shrug off their verbal venom, but when the voice is from a loved one or someone you trust, it is hard to ignore it.

Now, I am not saying your friends and loved ones are trying to pull the rug from underneath you on purpose, for the most part they are speaking from their heart and their experiences. However, please note that their experiences are not a precondition for your success.

Your success depends on the actions you take or that you do not take. If you play it safe and never take risks, you will reduce your odds of failing. Conversely, you also reduce your risk of achieving a lot of your dreams. To be blunt, you will fail at some point in your career. It happens to everybody, but do you want to fail based on a path somebody else convinced you to take, or do you want to fail on the path you chose? And failing on your own path is not bad because you learn during your journey what works and what does not.

So, while you might have failed, it is only a temporary setback that has provided you lessons learned that now allow you to get back up and continue your journey.

Don't Stop

As you begin your journey, you will be faced with obstacles that are both internal and external. The internal obstacles will be self-doubt and confusion about whether or not you are capable to accomplish a specific task. The external obstacles may be friends or family members who think you should go a different direction then the one you have chosen. While it's always good to listen to wisdom, you also need to take into consideration whether or not that wisdom is aligned with the goals you have set for yourself. Family members and friends often mean well, but sometimes you need guidance from those that can provide objective advice based on real world facts and evidence from having lived the part.

To sum, congratulations again on your outstanding achievement and I encourage all of you pursue the career of your dreams. Don’t ever stop pursuing your life’s calling!

Dave