After thinking about it for a while I came up with Four Things I wish I had known when I was a teenager or young adult looking to make a difference, to make a career, to make a life.
Here are Four Things I Wish I Knew When I was Your Age:
1. Be Fearless --- You are young. Try lots of things, fail a few times ... you will learn a LOT!
2. You don’t have to do it alone - there are a lot of people that have skills and expertise in areas you don't. That's OK.
3. You don't have to know everything - Again, there are a lot of people that know things you don't know & shouldn’t have to know. Create Partnerships to expand your knowledge base.
4. Volunteer --- for anything. The people you will meet, the good you will do, the things you will learn will last a lifetime.
There you have it. I’m sure you have other suggestions and tips for things you wish you knew when you were a teenager. Please share them here or drop me a note at one of my contact points below. If there is a sizable response I will aggregate them and re-post.
What about you?
- What did you wish you knew when you were a teenager or young adult?
Drop a note in the comments here or at any of my contact coordinates below. I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Thank You Pam ---
I want to thank Pam for inviting to speak and helping me put my thoughts into a perspective that would resonate with her students. If you have not met Pam – she is a great resource and a wealth of information. She is willing to share what she knows and she has been an invaluable sounding board for me.
You can reach Pam here Twitter, Hope24Seven and her business Seattle Business Consulting.
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I have spent the last 20 years working in various aspects of the ECM industry. I am currently with Kodak as a Director of Business Development. In my past I have spent time at Kofax, Microsoft, FileNet, K2, and at Captaris (which was acquired by Open Text). Prior to that I was a Unix VAR running my own company. Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Comments
I wrote a blog post on a very similar topic today. Then I stumbled onto your post from last November. Here's the list that I posted. The full post is at www.rodbrooks.com
1- Work hard.
2- Believe you can and have the courage to act on that belief.
3- Be curious and ask questions.
4- Accept the project no one else wants and do it better than anyone else expects.
5- Take detours and see what you might have otherwise missed.
6- Take advice when it’s offered. Seek advice when it isn’t.
7- Remain the student. Keep listening and learning.
8- Discover and follow your passion.
9- Be smart, but trust your gut.
10- See the edge - Look beyond the obvious to see what others don't!