5 Tips For Recent College Graduates

Last updated on: June 8, 2015 at 9:08 am by Jefferson Bethke

5 Tips For Recent College Graduates 2015-06-08T09:08:00-10:00 Jefferson Bethke

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Seeing all the graduation pictures on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter the past couple weeks has made me reflect and think back to just a few years ago when I graduated in 2011. It’s only been 4 years since I graduated but the past 4 years have been quite formative. Below are 5 things if I could go back I’d tell myself on the day I graduated.

1) Be ok with not having a plan or answer for what you’re going to do after college. It’s literally one of the worst things about graduating. For almost your entire senior year you are peppered with questions like “so what are you doing after?” “Are you taking any internships?” “What’s your plan?” It’s really hard when you don’t have an answer. I really didn’t know. And I felt this pressure like I had to know. Which gets me to the second thing.

2) You don’t have to know by the time you’re 22 what you want to do for the rest of your life. In fact, I’d say the years of having one job out of college for 50+ years is dead. The 20’s aren’t the end, they are the beginning. So adventure, explore, and set a foundation. Be intentional about what you do, but explore different crafts. Find what fills you. What gift you have that builds up communities and helps others. Hone that craft. The 20’s are for finding your craft and then beginning your 10,000 hours (see Malcolm Gladwell).

3) Dive all in on community. Sometimes when we graduate there is a lot of transition. We are moving to new places, setting new rhythms, and lots more. One thing we weren’t created to do was live life alone. I sometimes struggle with the “find yourself” mantra. I don’t think we should find ourselves. I think we should find a story that’s bigger than us and live in that. We were created to be in a story and be in a community. That’s where we learn to love, serve, lead, deal with conflict, and most of all show God’s redemptive work here on earth as it is in Heaven.

4) Be mindful of your habits. I’ve heard someone say who you become from 18-22, generally speaking, is who you are for the rest of your life. I think that’s true with habits too. It’s hard to shake bad habits, but in the huge transition that is college graduation you can set some really awesome ones. Eat healthy. Be active. Journal. Whatever it is, you’ll thank yourself later if you start these disciples then.

5) Fail. Fail. Fail. Go after it. Fail some more. Spread the paint around and don’t worry about what’s hitting the floor. We don’t grow without failure. And as Jesus followers we should never be afraid of failure since our standing is in Jesus outside ourself. We are standing on a rock no matter how many times we fall down so it only makes sense to give it all we got since we aren’t afraid to fail. Also I love what this video below has to say about failure. Ira glass video.

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