Year In Review: What I've Learned Since College

1.    There are no office hours
The neat part about college is that professor’s (typically) have a genuine interest in their students.   Their job is to develop young minds.  Unfortunately, that’s not in your boss’s job description (though this small, often unwritten responsibility is the difference between a manager and a LEADER).  Any minute you are spending with your boss, is a minute you are not out making money for the company.  Instead, find small amounts of time to share your experiences with your boss (a cell phone call while driving between appointments or while sitting in rush hour traffic). 

2.    7:00 a.m. is not early
7:00 a.m. is not early for anything.  Not for waking up, not for arriving at the gym, not for showing up at work, not even for McDonald’s breakfast.  That’s because all the people who truly want to be successful, have accomplished all of these things before 7:00 a.m.   To set yourself apart from the ordinary 8-5 careerists, you should accomplish something significant (significant meaning something external of your morning routine) before 7:00 a.m.
3.    Office social events don’t make sense BUT are important!

My current workplace just celebrated the holidays with a cookie exchange.  How cool is that?  We all get together and drink and eat cookies.  That’s pretty neat to me.  UNTIL…I found out that cookie exchange means you bake a dozen cookies for each person in attendance.  Total party attendance:  13 people.  Total cookie count:  156.  That not only means I needed to bake 156 cookies, but I am taking home 156 cookies.  Imagine the challenges that I’m faced with:  156 cookies requires a significant amount of ingredients, oven space, cookie dishes, cookie trays and time.  How many 23 year olds, who live in a city apartment and are on an entry-level sales salary have these – and then want to take home 156 cookies.

The real point…building relationships with your co-workers is the best gift you can give your career this holiday season.  If not only to leverage your career down the road, but because most times these people are excellent people to know in your area and are great to be able to turn to for your personal and professional needs.

4.    No More Monopoly Money
The most alarming wake-up call I have received since college is that Starbucks coffee costs $3.50.  What happen to my college meal plan?  With the swipe of a card I could buy a Super-Tall-Chocolate-Mocha-Frappuccino-Espresso-no-whip- double-shot-something-or-other every morning before my 8 a.m. and every evening after night class.  Wow, how things have changed without a card that conveniently allowed me to delay the initial expense of those tall sugary drinks until 10 years later with a neat little interest rate attached to those wonderful little student loans that made my college life more like 4 years on an episode of The Hills.   In real world money terms, that’s about $10.00 a day, $70.00 a week, $3,640 a year. 

5.    Prestigious College Degrees Don’t Mean Shit
Graduating with the #9 best public business degree in the United States, 3 years of internship experience, contributing to a national recognized business organization, hanging out on the Dean’s list, international business education in both Latin American and Asia, attending CEO speaker after CEO speaker doesn’t mean shit (maybe my run-on sentences have contributed to the meaninglessness of my degree). 

What I’ve truly learned since college...You have to work your ass off every day, every hour.  Yes, that is Saturdays and Sundays too.  And it might even mean a Friday night in (what?  No bumping and grinding at the local college bar while drinking cheap beer out of plastic cups!?!?). 

You need to meet people (lots of them).  Which means you need to buy a lot of dinners for people.  Which means you need to shut your mouth for a few minutes and listen to people who have been where you are and have learned the hard lessons and are telling you how to make your career successful.  It’s well worth your valuable time!

You need to learn how other people who are successful think and then develop you own methods of being creative.  Surround yourself with great people.  Warren Buffet is famous for this “snowball” philosophy.  Surround yourself with great people and great work and before long you become successful by raising your bar to match those around you.

This isn’t a rant and rave about the difficulties of the transition from college to career.  It’s a learning experience for every 20-something, soon-to-be college grad or young professional that still doesn’t get it.  Take a good hard look at the 2009 you.  What did that person do great and what can they do better?  Build off your successes and eliminate the effects of the negative stuff.  Do that…and your 2010 will be the best ever.  Mine definitely is going to be…..