Advice to a Graduating College Student

I stumbled across a question on Quora today where a graduating college senior, who had just acquired his dream job, was asking for advice on how to finish this last semester. Most people responded with advice to take it easy, relax, and party.

My advice was a bit different. Here is my post:

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The most important advice you can be given at this point of transition in your life is to always maintain your integrity. Too many people get swept up in the desires of the businesses they work in and, in the process, forget who they are and what they stand for. Particularly, as your dedication to the business's goals pulls you away from the things that are truly more important - spending time with your family, becoming an integral part of a community, and caring for the resources of our environment.

Nearly every employer, especially large and impersonal businesses where you will never meet the people in charge, will try to maximize your output for as little investment possible. They are not interested in your welfare and betterment unless it benefits the company. To them, you are nothing but a tool for the merry-go-round of quarterly profits and shareholder satisfaction.

If you have the luxury of another semester before you enter the "real" world, then spend the time to consider these three things: 

• Meditate on who you truly are - not what someone else wants you to be. 
• Train yourself in the art of critical thinking - do not take anything for granted. 
• Ask yourself everyday, why is this the way? Is there a better way? Are my actions today consistent with whom I believe myself to be?

Big companies will tempt you with a high starting salary. For they know that once they get you inside, your peers will do a fine job of getting you to want more things and live beyond your means. Gotta get the latest mobile device, a better car, or a big house in a nice neighborhood. You will be made to feel inferior if you do not have these things. This creeps up slowly if you let it. And then one day, you will find yourself enslaved to the acquisition of money to support a lifestyle that you probably never wanted in the first place.

Two years ago, at the age of 48, I found a way to start unwinding my corporate servitude and enslavement to money. Today, I make less than 10% of what I did then but I am rich in love, friendships, and the inspiration that nature provides. 

I hope you keep these things in mind as you make your life choices.