10 Months in…5 Lessons Learned
10 months ago I embarked on the adventure of Real Life. Working full time and transitioning to a new city — Los Angeles. Here are my 5 lessons learned (so far):
- Education
While my formal education at university has finished, I came to realize in these past 10 months that learning never stops (or I hope it doesn’t). Whether that be learning more about your organization, coworkers, business, technology, etc. A constant part of my job and I’m sure yours as well is the daily commute time. It’s very easy to listen to the radio, stare aimlessly outside the bus window, or daydream as you commute both to/from work. None of these activates are necessarily bad or negative, I just look at commuting with a different perspective. A learning perspective. I try to spend the time listening to podcasts, reading articles, or hearing saved lectures on topics ranging from The Roman Emperors to Business Strategy to Languages. A list of my favorites are: This American Life by NPR, Open Yale Courses from Professor Freedman, and Quartz — News, Ideas, and Videos.
2. Outlook
Anybody that knows me well or has just met me soon realizes that I smile both frequent and often. By all means there is a time and place to be serious and vice versa, but I think we often miss the chance to express ourselves outwardly. I often get asked WHY I smile so much. For me it comes down to me being generally joyful and opening up the opportunity for more face to face interactions. You would be surprised how many interactions I’ve had that start with comments such as “I always see you smiling, Why do you smile so much, You look so happy today, what’s going on?” Smiling is contagious and I encourage everyone to smile more!
3. Drive
Drive is an interesting concept. Questions I try and ask myself are what motivates me? What excites me? What keeps me growing and developing? Then I go about trying to find answers to those questions. Sometimes I find answers, other times I don’t. Sometimes learning what you don’t like is often half the battle in learning what you do enjoy/like/desire.
4. Work/Life
I could elaborate on this subject for hours, but the main aspect I have learned is being proactive. In my opinion that doesn’t mean micromanaging your work or personal schedule to the very last minute, but it does mean planning ahead, giving yourself time to relax, and going above and beyond to try new things and most importantly having fun.
5. Give Back
When speaking about giving back I mean both financially and with time. Take the opportunity to give financially (if you are able) to those organizations that either helped you get to the place you are now or organizations you believe will help others do the same. Additionally, taking the extra effort to volunteer once a week, month, or even once a year is always worth the commitment. The late great tennis player Arthur Ashe puts it best when he says, “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” When I serve and give back with my time, I often meet new people and expand my perspective just a little bit more. You have to start somewhere right?
By all means this is not an exhaustive list on the topic of lessons learned, but I hope you all enjoyed my first try at this writing gig. Would appreciate any feedback. Cheers!
