Never Too Late

I wake up every morning to the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”

 

Those 42 simple words in two sentences inspire me. I keep them open on the side of my computer everyday to remind me that I can be whoever I want to be and that if what I want changes, that’s okay too.

 

For the past few weeks I’ve been bombarded by questions of what I’m going to do with my life. Similar to all of you college seniors listening, the question makes me want to jump back in my childhood bed with my teddy bear and try to put off the decision. Some days I want to be a writer and then a world traveler and then a business woman and then I end up creating job titles that I’m not even sure if they exist outside of my head. The process of finding a job and then having it actually be one you want seems almost impossible these days.

 

When the idea of figuring out what I’m going to do a few months from now just overwhelms me a bit too much on some days, I think back to what Fitzgerald said, that I can start all over again. What I decide to do after college doesn’t have to be my forever. And I’m not naïve or alone in thinking or saying that. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, millennials change jobs tree times more than their elder generation, staying with an employer for no longer than 3 years on average. People are changing their mind and not settling for jobs they don’t like.

 

Articles are published everyday about the attitude of millennials. One of my favorites is from Elite Daily titled, “50 things about millennials that make corporate America shit its pants.” It explains how millennials rather work for nothing if it allows them to be happy and that the generation refuses to accept what is given and be suffocated by a suit and tie. My favorite is #22 on the list, “we don’t purse the paycheck, we pursue the passion.”

 

I’m surrounded by the idea of passion and not settling. Somewhere along the line the idea of going after whatever I want and following my dream and not the money or job title became embedded within me and my generation. While it’s inspiring and certainly happening, as young 20 year old entrepreneurs become millionaire CEO’s chasing their ideas like Snapchat and Facebook, it’s also scary.

 

These success stories and articles and the constant swirl of conversations about what to do next year inundates me and inspires me all at the same time. So I thought the best thing to do, the best way to find my own path would be to look to those that inspire me the most and are a part of my everyday life. Jason, John, Scott and Nicola all play a part in my everyday life and I decided to sit them down with a few questions on how they decided to pursue their passion and find what advice they had. 

 

 

 

Jay, my sister’s boyfriend, inspires me everyday. He went from over 300 pounds working on wall street to opening his own business, Pique Fitness, and changing peoples lives after his own journey. When I asked him about how he felt towards those around him when he opened his own business…

 

I don’t think there are too many people that have negative mindsets around me towards me starting the business and honestly if there were I just didn’t talk to them, because there’s really no place for negativity. When you’re gunna go out on your own and start something, you’re thinking about all the things that are going to go wrong. You know all the negatives, you know what you’re risking, you don’t need people in your ear telling you that on a consistent basis, it’s not worth it. 

 

 

While Jay is never totally comfortable with his small business, he wakes up everyday competitive and goal oriented to make his dreams a reality, but this isn’t something he always thought about doing

 

I graduated high school at 303 lbs, I was overweight in college like fitness was not something that was part of my life. So there’s no way could’ve foreseen what was gunna happen with this business. It took a big personal transformation and realizing all the things that kind of come with that to really spark this idea. 

 

 

Jay gives me advice everyday about my future, here’s a piece of advice that really speaks to me..

 

I think the main thing is to realize that your life right now is not permanent. If you’re faced with a very difficult decision and I know it’s difficult to kind of think like this when you’re 21 because you think that life is what it is right now, anytime you have a difficult decision, always ask yourself is this going to matter in 5 years? Chances are the answer is no and if it is going to matter in 5 years then it’s a decision worth putting some time into. Your life is going to be very fluid. Most people don’t have one career over the span of their lives, they have many. So you just have to be very adaptable to change and don’t get too comfortable.

 

 

 

Coach John Paul was one of my favorite people to talk to. He is so passionate about not only Michigan and the lacrosse program, but on changing peoples lives. Growing up with parents that pushed him to always do something he liked, John knew what he wanted in a job.. 

 

I think ultimately I wanted a job where I could have a real influence on people and their development as people and that probably would’ve ended up being some kind of teaching or coaching a combination, I mean coaching really is teaching. So that’s why I enjoy this job and that’s what I most enjoy about it. It’s a little ironic because the higher level you go in any sport and the higher position you attain as the head coach, the less of that you get to do, because there is so much other stuff you have to do but it’s still what I love about this job. 

 

 

While he loves what he does, his journey to get there had some challenges and moments were he stepped back and had to think about if this was right for him 

 

We really got to the point where my last year coaching the club program we had decided that it was going to be my last year here and then this all came together so we got lucky too that the timing and the right AD all came into place at the same time. 

 

 

John is passionate about helping people develop during their time in college and his advice has really helped me reflect on what is important to look for in my future

 

Well I give this kind of advice all the time to my players and my advice is always the same: find a way to follow your passion. First, find what those passions are, really think about what makes you the happiest to do day in and day out and find a way to follow that. It might not mean your job is going to be that passion, but finding a way to tie that passion into what you’re doing I think gives your career more meaning.

 

 

 

Professor Scott Page has been one of my favorite professors at the University. Everyday he teaches me in class about how to make decisions and consider alternative perspectives. He found his way from math to complex systems through mentors encouraging him to go for it… 

 

Then, when I got to graduate school my advisor at Northwestern, Stan Reider, was really good at basically telling me I shouldn’t do what other people should do, I should pursue my own ideas and I think just did a really good job of just letting me seek out and find things that interested me as opposed to sort of I think following a path that would’ve perhaps would’ve led to more immediate success but wouldn’t have necessarily been stuff that I was as interested in. 

 

 

Scott is also very happy in what he is doing now, but it’s never something he could have imagined happening… 

 

So it’s funny, I’m obviously very happy. The thing is, it’s not, what I’m doing now isn’t something I could’ve anticipated, I didn’t event think it existed. Right, so I’m running the Center for Complex Systems here at Michigan that wasn’t even a field as late as when I got my PhD. I go out and give a lot of talks on the importance of diversity. It’s crazy.

 

 

Scott’s advice for college seniors is to really take advantage of everything you can at Michigan and learn as much as you can while you’re here

 

The other thing is that the people I know that have been successful have just continued to learn. It’s amazing how many times I’m out and you meet with people that whether they’re running a government agency, rising up in corporate America, started a nonprofit how much they just absolutely continue to learn and I think that especially smaller family sizes, parental pressure that sort of stuff there’s a tendency to think okay I want to, I have to say I’m fitting into one of these categories, I’m going to be a lawyer or I’m going to be a doctor, I’m going to be a business consultant as opposed to taking a little bit of a longer view and saying okay what might I go do that I’m going to learn something or have some set of experiences that are going to enable me to then go on and so other things that I would like to do. I think also thinking hard about what do you like to spend your time doing and you want to find a job where what you’re doing most of the time is stuff you actually want to be doing.

 

 

 

 

Nicola, my advisor and boss for the past two years, has taught me everyday the importance of loving what you do. Growing up surrounded by a college campus, she always had a desire to work in a college and with students. Nicola’s story really speaks to me about how if you don’t like what you’re doing you can change your mind.

 

So I think that I definitely had mentors in college that really helped me to realize that you could do this as a career, even though I didn’t do that ultimately right when I graduated, I was like I’m not really sure, I feel burnt out, eventually after a year of advising. But really had a good support system to help me navigate my way back after I was like I don’t really want to work in development, that wasn’t really what I wanted but I wanted to work with students again

 

 

While she loves what she is doing everyday with an ever changing schedule, it took a lot of courage to get to where she is now..

 

I think definitely that’s something that I thought a lot about and was a big challenge, just the courage to move across the country to somewhere I had never even been before other than interviewing there and knew really nobody in the whole town so I felt like that was really big for me. 

 

 

Her courage to change paths and move is a central part in her advice to college seniors..

 

So, I think definitely also not being afraid to make that career change, so when you get to a point when you’re like okay I’m in this job but I thought I loved it but I don’t really love it and just not being afraid one again in following your heart or your gut and making that move to do something else. So, that’s what I would tell people.

 

 

 

I’ve always believed that you become like the people you surround yourself with, that’s how I’ve approached my friendships and even my mentorships. While I may not grow up to be a teacher or coach, Jason, John, Scott and Nicola are absolutely people I would want to be like. They all show me everyday that with hard work, persistence and sometimes just a little luck that you can find and do what you really want too. 

 

These past few months have been overwhelming for me. At first, it seemed like a constant stream of applications and phone interviews. Friends and family tirelessly asking where I was in the process and what I would be doing next year. I became exhausted, both mentally and physically. To me, it wasn’t just about finding a job, it’s about finding a job that I want to wake up and do everyday. Should I take a job that requires traveling? What kind of city or state do I want? How far away from family and friends? Will I find an apartment? One question of, “what will you do in May” becomes about 100 more in my mind in a few seconds. I needed the attention off of me for some time to think about what do I really want?

 

 I think it’s easy for millennial to get lost in this process. The Harvard Business Review will tell you that millennials want a job that is personally fulfilling, that allows for learning new skills and opportunities. This really reminded me of the advice Professor Page gave me, he said to try to always find ways to acquire new skills that would allow you to do something you want to in the future. I thought this was great advice because just as his field didn’t exist when he was an undergrad, there will always be new and changing technology for my generation and although we’ve grown up digitally, there’s a chance it could change faster than we can.

 

Author and workplace expert Dan Schawbel advises millennials to “sacrifice today for a position tomorrow”. He stresses the importance of working hard today so you can be in a better position tomorrow and have the freedom you want later on. While I understand the hard work needed, I think that advice is so tricky to listen too. In my conversations will fellow college seniors, especially here at Michigan, we feel that since we’ve worked so hard in school and our internships that we should be able to find our place. I’m not saying I think I’ve earned a top leadership position at a company, but a few years of doing entry work doesn’t exactly thrill my generation. 

 

Schawbel also advises millennials to take risks early in your career to learn and if you want to last long in a job, pick one that you’re passionate about.

 

How are we supposed to take risks, not settle for a job we don’t enjoy and put in the sacrifice all at the same time?

 

This was definitely an idea I kept in mind during my interviews and I wanted to know: how did you figure it out? 

 

The advice Nicola gave to me really stood out. Not being afraid of doing what you want to do despite what other people may think you should do. I find myself constantly worried I’m going to let people down in my career choice. Giving up a big job to do something else sounds like a possibility in the hypothetical, especially when I have someone like Jason in my life who is an example that you can, but I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that maybe I can’t. 

 

What I’m beginning to see is that sacrificing today might just mean some balance. I might have to take a few years so I can support myself financially. Not every millennial can graduate college and do anything. We have debt to pay off and parents who would like to stop paying for our rent, but just because not everyone can make the choice to follow their dream right now doesn’t mean you can’t one day. In fact, Jason, John, Scott and Nicola all ended up doing things they love, but they didn’t do it immediately.  It took a few years doing other work, some good support systems and sometimes a leap of faith to go after what they ultimately wanted, while it might not have been easy, they got there. 

 

John Paul told me to think about what makes you happy everyday, and to do that and I think that I might not know what that is just yet. Millennials are changing jobs more in their lifetime than anyone else and maybe it’s to keep acquiring new skills and climbing the ladder. Or maybe it’s to keep on that search of what makes you feel some personal fulfillment, a role that pushes you to wake up early and go to work and feel like you’re making an impact. 

 

All four of these people are close to me. They remind me that I’ll be okay, I’ll get to a place and a career and a moment where it all comes together, even though some days it feels like I might not find it. When it comes to picking your future, it always feels like people are telling you what you should do, what would be the best decision for you, but nobody else can make that for you. I think it’s so important for millennials to really take a step back, to see the people that have come before them. This podcast shared the journeys of 4 people who are pursing a career they are passionate about and how through a few changes, personally and in their careers, and how they learned from the mentors that came before them, just like I am learning from them before me. 

 

The best parts of these conversations weren’t recorded. They came after I had a few minutes to reflect on what someone who is further down the road than me was really saying. Don’t be afraid. Take a leap of faith. Do what you feel is best. Keep learning. It wasn’t until I had these talks that I realized how much I needed to think about myself, how I forgot to keep in mind what I would need to be happy at the end of the day. This project gave me the opportunity to ask questions I never thought to of people that are real everyday mentors to me and share my personal worries and struggles afterwards. It has changed my approach on “what to do after May?” While I might not be sure right now, I feel confident that I’ll figure it out one day and that I now have the right support system and mentors to help guide me back if I ever get lost.