Things I wish I knew in school
In November 2019, it was 10 years since I left Stockholm to move to New York. As a part of my final year at Digital Media School Hyper Island, I got an internship at the coolest place I knew — Your Majesty Co.
Today, I am based in Amsterdam and am one of the owners and the general manager of the same cool company.
Coinciding with my 10th year as a Hyper Island Alumni, I got invited back to the campus to give a keynote to the first-year students of the Digital Media Creative program.
In addition to sharing my journey of going from intern to owner, I shared ten things I wish someone would have told me when I was in their place at school.
Recently, as I was cleaning up my desktop, I stumbled upon that keynote and decided to type it up.
Maybe it can be useful for more people early in their journey.
Here goes.
1. Make yourself useful, and the good ones will notice
There is a lot of talk about the entitlement of the millennial workforce. Hubris of students coming straight out of university and demanding authority to solve the most challenging problems straight out the gate.
Although I’m sure there are situations where this is a type of mentality is justified, I do not think it’s the best approach to get ahead.
It’s quite simple actually: If you come into a workplace bearing fresh perspectives and a positive attitude towards literally everything, you will stand out from the crowd.
When you complete whatever little (annoying) task that is given you, with a smile, the good and successful people, with authority, will take notice of you. These are the people who most likely walked a similar path earlier in their career, and so will reciprocate your hard work by opening the right doors for you.
2. Read more (books)
It might seem unnecessary to list this. However, no one told 19-year-old Georgios that there was such thing as non-fiction books that were both enjoyable to read and profoundly educational.
Books are a great way to get out of the echo chamber, and there is a book for almost any type of skill, problem, school of thought, etc. you might want to ponder over. And they’re cheap! In most cases, for less than €20, you can buy a book that can have a significant impact on your life and career. The return on investment of a great book is priceless.
And if you don’t like reading, or like me, are a slow reader, you can listen to audiobooks and podcasts to stream new perspectives into your brain.
Although please do try reading an actual book at any given time, it simply changes how you think about things.
3. Listen to the elders
When I started in the industry, I was ignorant and scoffed at the advice I got from people who were 10+ years older than me. What do they know about digital?
Man, was I naive…
Sure, hard skills and tools evolve fast in the digital field, and the pace of that will not slow down, so you’re probably better equipped to pick up new things more quickly than the ones with more mileage than you (TikTok anyone?).
However, the people older than you have one thing you simply can’t up them on — real-life experience. They have been through things in business and life — interpersonal conflicts, stress, dealing with failure, impostor syndrome, and tons of other things that can’t be learned from reading books alone.
So find someone willing to share their experiences with you, their truths, strategies for success, advice, biggest failures, etc. You will be able to learn from them and stand on their shoulders instead of repeating mistakes that could have been avoided if you had listened.
4. Find a way of centering yourself when things get tough
In 2012, my dad suddenly passed away in a car accident. I was in the middle of my second year of working with Your Majesty’s Amsterdam office.
When I got the phone-call it set off a panic attack that kept coming back almost every day for over a year after.
At one point, I sought out a therapist who introduced me to meditation and mindfulness as a tool to deal with these attacks. Meditation ultimately has become my way to center myself when I notice the pressure rising, and has definitely made me a better person and leader.
Today I try to keep a daily meditation practice (although it ebbs and flows).
So figure out what works for you and how you can keep yourself centered, whether it be meditation, sports, fishing, pottery, whatever.
5. Do the crazy stuff now [in school]. The business world is not as forgiving of failures
I know, I know, when you are given fake projects for fiction clients in school, it doesn’t feel like real work. You long for the day when you get to work on an actual project — for the Airbnb’s, Spotify’s, and Samsung’s of this world.
The good thing about fictive assignments, though, is that you can go completely crazy on them without having to deal with the consequences concerning contracts, budgets, timelines, demanding clients, egos, and all the other constraints that pressure a professional to take the safe route.
So experiment with new techniques, break best practices, and play with the brief. Now’s your time.
It is these types of things, the curiosity to seize opportunities in unexpected places, that catch my interest when I see applications for internships or jobs at Your Majesty in the future.
Go bananas. Now.
OK, that turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be!
I did say I talked about 10 things in my keynote. But before I spend another hour typing that up, it would be great for me to know if some of you find this stuff valuable.
So, how about if I get 150 claps on this one, I’ll type up the next post with the other five things?
Kool, deal.
Bonus round: books
Five books that had an impact on my professional life:
- Radical Candor by Kim Scott
- You’re my favorite client by Mike Monteiro
- The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz
- Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris
- This is marketing by Seth Godin
What I’m currently reading:
