How to Stop Feeling Lost After Graduation
So, you’ve graduated.
You put the pen down on your final exam. You walk out the doors (suddenly forgetting your lack of sleep). You wrap your arms around friends. Endorphines are high.
That night, you’re on top of the world.
Then, it hits you.
What now?
You’ve spent the last 17 years studying. Whether you admit it or not, you’re used to the routine.
You study hard and get rewarded with good grades. You know that you have Marketing at 10 am and Derivatives at 2 pm. That you’ll probably wait to the last possible moment to do your assignment. And that next year, like the last will follow a similar pattern.
But now.
Well, now everything is unknown.
You need to make your own path, and there is no course curriculum or timetable to show you what that *should* look like.
I know this because this was me 6 months ago.
After 5 years of uni, I graduated.
To the outside world, I would have looked like I was doing quite well. I had multiple job offers and a degree from a top business school.
But, the truth?
For the first time in my entire life, I felt completely lost.
At the time, it was hard to explain.
I wondered what I had spent the last 5 years doing. Had I made the right career choice? Even what my purpose was? (Yep, the overthinking was real).
While I never spoke about it at the time I’ve now realised I’m not alone in thinking like this. So to anyone graduating, or about to graduate. I thought I’d share the 3 best things I did to get un-lost.
1. Make a Map. A plan of what you want.
Often the feeling of being lost comes because you have no idea what is next. The unknown can be exciting. But it can also be stressful.
Now that you’ve graduated nobody is going to tell you what to do. Instead, you need to write your own plan.
Open a google-doc or go old-school like me and grab an A3 piece of paper (and coloured pens). Now, write down things about you. Write things you enjoy doing, the companies you love, your dream job and goals you want to achieve both personally and professionally. Write anything that comes to mind when you think of who you want your future self to be.
Now use your ideas to make a plan.
Start with the things you want to achieve and then work backwards to figure out how you might do that.
No path will be linear. And everyone’s will look different. But a plan can help give you structure.
For example, one thing I wanted to achieve was clarity around what role I wanted in say 3 years. So I decided to learn as much as I could about the different roles in the industry. To do that I reached out to people on LinkedIn and set up one coffee chat per week until I figured it out.
2. Create a career/life group
You’re not the only person to graduate in your year.
So, it’s highly likely that you’re not the only person feeling a little lost. Graduating is a huge change. But, it can be made so much easier by forming a career or life group.
Like a study group. Or a mini sports team. Find a couple of friends who you are comfortable around. Together discuss your career goals and challenges. If you have no idea what that looks like then use this group to help figure it out.
To do this, I follow Nick Crocker’s ‘The Elephants’ method, where you run weekly and quarterly reporting and quarterly reviews on goals. It is a little extreme, and not for everyone, but it is a good place to start.
3. Find a mentor
One of the first things I identified after graduating is that I needed some guidance. For me, that came from mentors.
I like to think of a mentor like a sports coach. They offer guidance to help you succeed.
I have two mentors, one closer to my age and one in my dream role.
They’ve helped me build a career plan, grow my network and provided the support I need as I begin my career. If you’re going to follow any of these tips, I believe this is the most important one.
If you find the right mentor for you, they can have a significant impact on your transition from student to professional.
Lastly, embrace the uncertainty.
Like anything new, it may be a little scary. But soon enough you’ll be wondering what you ever worried about.
Ruby x
