Do you remember back in your college undergraduate years when you thought, “I will get my 4 year degree and then I will have a job.” Well, many of us accomplished that because we knew with certainty a 4 year degree would lead us to a job. So we did senseless things in order to obtain the degree to get our end result, a JOB. We studied for countless hours, napping in the library, pulling all-nighters, filled our extra time with extracurriculars because employers like a well-rounded candidate (or so it is said). From my experience, employers could care less about what you do in your spare time. It’s really college that expects you to have extracurriculars for price of entrance. So if you are going to spend your precious time on extracurriculars, do something you really are interested in and not for the resume looks.
Many of us knew our degree would not lead to a definitive job so we went straight to some type of graduate schooling. Isn’t that funny? We knew at the time that our 4 year degree did not mean much yet we still went for it because of what society projected onto everyone as a person of success. If you know exactly what you want to do, I’d suggest not wasting a couple of years and several thousand dollars of your parents’ money to get a degree because that is just what people do. Go in with a goal in mind and find the most efficient way there. Floating about and going about it the way “everyone” does is a losing game. You are going to get the exact same outcome as everyone else. Graduated with no clear direction or at the exact same starting point as everyone else. Almost negating the fact that you spent 4 years of youth on a degree that everyone else already has.
Realizing when you are falling into the trap of what popular culture tells you to do by way of your friends, family, tv, phone, and various subliminal messages that you cannot escape is vital to going your own path. Learning to critically think for yourself is important and extremely hard. Because if you mess up you blame yourself, but if you go with what the culture tells you to do then you can pass the blame on others and take no responsibility. Except, blaming others hurts you, regardless.
I keep giving myself excuses as to why I cannot do this or that, but they are excuses because I am scared of looking stupid, embarrassed, uncool, ridiculous, not acting my age, etc. Here is the thing. There is no better time than now. This time like any other time is a very good one if you but know what to do with it.
My excuses are that I don’t have the skills, experience, talents, and so on, but really these days we have so many resources that our parents and parents’ parents never had the chance to have. You have everything you need. You just need to start putting in the work.
How does this tie into college days? Well, you spent 4 years diligently, relentlessly working on getting the best grades. You did so so much. If you stopped to think about everything you did you would probably think, “why does this matter?” Why am I studying for several hours each day? Because you were working towards a goal. Even if you took the long way to reach your goal of having a good job, you knew that you had to put in the work year after year and some how it would pay off. And so this may contradict all I said earlier, but the 4 year degree did get you to your goal. Just a very expensive and long way to get it. And so it is going to take you just as much if not more to reach your goal now. No need to stop yourself each time by asking yourself if this is really worth my time and effort. Was it worth your time and effort to write that essay for English class? You have to put in the grunt work. People don’t go from 0 to 100. They work their way there. This time around try to be a bit smarter about it. Make a plan. Make a schedule. Stick to it. Adjust it as needed.