Rules for College Graduates
Graduating from college can be an exciting, yet frightening time, in a young individual’s life. Many seek out answers and advice on where to go and what to do next. Recently, Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal gave college graduates his personal advice, publishing as his “29 Rules for College Graduates.”
Some of my favorites include:
- Relax. Nobody expects anything from you for the first 80 to 90 years.
- While you’re still young, stay up to watch the end of “Monday Night Football.” After the age of 35, it’s physically impossible.
- Never enter IKEA without your game face on.
- Don’t be impressed by people’s fancy houses or boats. Houseboats, fine. Because houseboats are amazing.
- In social settings, never argue about politics, religion or your fantasy draft.
- Talk to animals. Because you never know.
- The most important thing you own right now? Your blue jeans. Twenty-five years from now, if you pull out those blue jeans, and fit into them, you are going to run around the house like you’ve won the Super Bowl in overtime.
- Doughnuts come in and out of your life, like past loves. You never really say goodbye to doughnuts.
After adding humor and a little twist to the stereotypical advice many college graduates hear from parents, peers, and future employers, Jason Gay ended his long list on a more serious note with rule #28: To be real for a moment: Don’t listen to rules. Anyone you admire in life almost surely made a significant choice, somewhere along the way, to break the rules, to be brave and do things differently and change their world.
Rule #28 is my favorite and I believe it shows a good lesson that not only college graduates need to know, but every single person. Life is about making your own path.
