At the start of the summer term, life is stressful and little things tend to get overlooked. However, it’s not long before the exams are all finally taken - and hopefully passed, and it seems that this final term has passed all too quickly. It is all too easy to either forget about university whilst pressing on to the next stage in life, or to feel lost and left wondering ‘what now?’ in July. It is worth spending time at the dawn of this summer term to contemplate what has passed and remembering both the good and disastrous times. It is with this that I present ten things I wish someone had told me before I finished my undergraduate degree.
Time management is essential. There are times when social functions suddenly crop up the day before an essay or project deadline. It is only when the work is progressing well that there is the flexibility to join friends for a few hours then return to the grind and finish work on-time. Equally, there are times when we may ‘remember’ that we have some huge piece of work due the next day and consequently have to spend a long night intensely working. Building space into life and careful planning allows for a spontaneous, action-packed life and the possibility of rapid response.
Get out and stay out of debt as quickly and as much as possible. Only those who come from spendthrift or wealthy families can afford the luxury of being able to pay off student debts immediately, but strict budgeting and hard work are great skills to acquire and tremendously helpful in later life.
A good degree is only the start. It is a common myth that high grades from a great institution and good contacts will mean that a dream job is only a telephone call away. Alternatively, graduation can also bring fears that we will never get our dream job, least of all, because we don’t even know the identity of that job! However, the benefit of youth is that we have plenty of time to test our motivations and skills, think around the box, contact the right people and persevere to achieve a dream job that is also financially viable.
No job is beneath you. However menial or laborious a job may seem, it is valuable in providing training in skills which are essential later. And no dream is unattainable. The more perfect a job may seem, the more likely it is that it would suit someone of your mindset, personality and background. The only ways you can fail to achieve your dream job are to either stop dreaming or to give up too early, so be prepared to put your hard hat on and keep knocking.
Who you are is as important as how much you earn. When jobs can be so demanding and challenging, it is essential that you choose a job which is right for your temperament and maximises your strengths. Nobody ever starts on their perfect salary, so go for a job that you would be proud of rather than which pays well. After all, a degree lasts for three years whilst a career lasts for forty.
Don’t take anything too lightly. It can be hard to determine what you should do with your life. The winds of life change so be prepared to change boats to keep up with them. A throw-away comment from a friend can alter your life, a person you bump into one week can become the centre of it the next, and a hobby you have now may become your career in a few years time.
The friends made at university tend to be the closest friends throughout life. Undergraduate days generally constitute the greatest turning point in your life; events and struggles faced now may well shape the person that you are likely to be throughout the rest of your life. Living pretty much on top of each other in shared accommodation and the experience of discovering who you are away from your parents means that you are likely to grow closer to friends from university than anyone else, so don’t be worried if you don’t meet anyone you like as much as your current housemates.
The statistics say that 65% of Reading undergraduates marry each other. This makes perfect sense; when else would thousands of like-minded individuals from similar backgrounds of the same age be thrown together in a relatively tiny, campus-sized space? Use this time wisely and have a good search but be aware that the best fish are not always easy to catch or to see.
School and university are not the only places where you learn. Work brings its own share of challenges and however highly trained you may be for a certain position, experience teaches you what books cannot, so don’t be surprised if initially you get turned down from a job due to lack of experience. Make the most of the opportunities that you have, apply for internships wherever possible and learn as much as you can from every place you work. And life lessons are also important. The scratches you get from making wrong decisions can help you to become the most highly-respected person in your field or community.
Life is short, but running prevents you from admiring the scenes en-route to the final destination. Always make time for the slow dance, the time to stop and stare, to reflect on who and what you are at any particular time, to contemplate who you want to become, and to strategise ways of narrowing the difference between those two positions.
No comments:
Post a Comment