I HAVE NO IDEA! I am a clueless 26 year old! :) But see below for advice and stories from others that have really shaped how I feel about this question.
I was strongly inspired by Charlie Hoen’s Recession-Proof Graduate Guide which I read going into my senior year in college. I re-tooled the advice to work for me (which basically meant NOT working for free) and I set out to interview every engineering firm in the Spokane and Couer de’Alene area. I wasn’t asking for a job - I was asking for advice. I generally asked the following questions:
I was strongly inspired by Charlie Hoen’s Recession-Proof Graduate Guide which I read going into my senior year in college. I re-tooled the advice to work for me (which basically meant NOT working for free) and I set out to interview every engineering firm in the Spokane and Couer de’Alene area. I wasn’t asking for a job - I was asking for advice. I generally asked the following questions:
- What were you doing at my age?
- How did your career start? (Then get the full story – which is amazing because in almost all cases, NO ONE has asked them to go this far down memory lane. It’s very comforting to learn that the CEO of a company now, spent a year after graduating biking across the country or traveling abroad.)
- What hard skills do you think would be valuable for someone to develop?
- And my favorite question - what do you wish you knew at my age? (Kate Catlin – we’re two peas in a pod really!)
The interviews often led to identifying a need they had in their business that I could provide solutions too. Not long thereafter, I started a consulting business to provide marketing and writing services to small and mid-sized engineering firms. I learned a ton! But that’s not what I want to write about…
I want to share some of my favorite tidbits of advice that emerged from asking people what they wish they knew at our age. To this day, I continue to ask that question of strangers in the airport, leaders in the community, and any other interesting individual.
- Ask questions. When you are young, you don’t want to appear stupid so you may not ask questions and nod your head in agreement when you have NO IDEA what the other person is talking about. I am so unbelievably guilty of this – in fact, it is so common for me to not know what people are talking about that it became habit to nod in agreement. So I stopped doing that, and now I seek clarification. Ask for counsel. Quiet the internal pressure in my head that says you should know this.
- Understand finance. This bit of advice came from a highly successful woman that used to work for a non-profit that was in deep trouble. She was the only one who could peel back all of the layers of confusion and read the numbers. And the numbers said that she was too expensive as their Executive Director and the best way to keep them afloat was for her to leave. She did that – after positioning them to succeed without an expensive leader at the top.
- Do what you love. Barf – how cliché right? But really I can’t tell you how many people have told me about this. We all know that we work harder for things we believe in and the resulting output is much more remarkable than that of uninspired work. What I have observed is that there is no one thing that defines doing what you love. I bet there are 20 different careers out there for me that would be equally challenging and rewarding.
- Don’t listen to the voice that says you’re too young and unexperienced. I just received this advice last week from a public speaker that came to Anchorage. When you’re pushing your limits ALL the time, you constantly feel like a fraud and at times lose your confidence. Though it’s true that we’re young and inexperienced – most look beyond our lack of gray hair and respect our enthusiasm, work ethic and creative ideas.
- Meditate or Reflect. One business owner told me that he used to work out insanely hard during the recession as his stress outlet. And when he realized that maximum physical effort was still not enough to manage the stress, he turned to the seemingly crunchy solutions of eating well, sleeping enough and meditating. I couldn’t believe that the manly man CEO in front of me was telling me he meditated. Since then – I have been trying to do a better job of slowing down, separating work from home life, and gentle care of myself. It’s a work in progress!
I could go on and on with the advice that I have received, and frankly wish I had thought of creating a website for capturing all of the great ideas bestowed to me. I have been thinking for several days now about what I wish I knew at a younger age (I’m barely 26!), and I have a lot of little bits of advice, but I’m not sure I can really answer yet – what I wish I knew. If something intelligent comes to me, I will share it in a second post!
But for the time being – I feel like a big work in progress. I’m still listening and learning about myself. Figuring out what I’m good at – and what I’m not so good at. Trying to learn how to communicate better, how to be a better partner, take care of myself, slow down, develop distinguishable skill sets, accomplish more physically, quiet anxieties, overcome insecurities, and find time for all the things I want to do. It’s a messy navigation but I seek counsel from diverse mentors and spend a lot of time reflecting. Perhaps too much time! But the end result is that as a lone and afraid as I sometimes feel winging it every day – I am very thankful for the amazing friends, family, colleagues, and communities that I have. And find a bit of reprieve knowing that as different as we all are – we’re all just imperfect humans. And we’re in it together!
Thank you Kate for doing this exercise. You totally inspire me and I hope someday we take on some project, or business venture, or biking trip to celebrate two total crazies seeking challenge in everything we do.