It’s graduation party season. Even if you don’t have a graduate in your home this year, your friends and relatives likely do. It’s so much fun to celebrate the graduate and think about the exciting, limitless future they have ahead of themselves. While we, the older generation, have so much advice to give, the young adults don’t always want to hear it. Tough. Let’s share our knowledge anyway.
Networking is really important. To the young people, it can be super annoying to have to say hi to everyone they run into at the grocery store or the gym, especially when it’s their parent’s friends. They know they should go say hi, they don’t really want to, but it’s the right thing to do. That’s networking. Those family acquaintances might have ties to the company that young person might want to work for someday. The young people these days think they are annoying the acquaintance, bugging them without really knowing them. False I say. Adults love a go-getter and really do want to offer advice and help the new generation of professionals. Take advantage of these contacts and relationships, especially when they are people who run in the same circles. There are circles. People are running in them.
The biggest lesson to teach is that whether things go well or things go terribly, everything happens for a reason. And when those things go wrong, which they will, don’t be so hard on yourself. It could be timing or the wrong fit, but something better is around the corner. You know what they say… when one door closes, another one opens. There are doors. They are opening and closing.
Often when in a bad situation you can look back and realize how things could have gone differently. A positive way to spin that is to learn from those experiences. Mistakes are lessons. Rejection is redirection. Take note and move forward. Sometimes you figure these things out much later, when the whole time the writing was on the wall. There is a wall. People are writing on it.
These young people don’t have to decide their future right away. They have time to explore options. College, trade school, military, or straight into the work force, you kids can do anything you want. Whatever floats your boat! There is a boat. It’s floating.
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I’m not trying to tell you young adults what to do. You need to forge your own path, of course. But it is a great idea to listen to people who have more life experience than you… your parents, grandparents and their friends in the professional word. Do you understand what I’m saying? Are you picking up what I’m putting down? I’ll put it down. You pick it up.
