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Kansas City | Having attended several graduations this year, I thought it was only fitting to write a little commencement address of my own. The guys in the office challenged me, saying I couldn't keep it under 10-pages...so I did my best to keep it short and sweet. Hope you enjoy :)
Dear Class of 2013,
Life as you know it is about to abruptly change! The textbook tools you have mastered up to this point will do very little to determine your fate in our faster than ever evolving world of change. Technical degrees many of you may have just paid for could be deemed worthless by society before your college debts are ever paid off. Doctors spending eight years and thousands earning a degree are entering a world that has dramatically changed before your very eyes and you are very ill prepared. Not that a college degree isn't vitally important in climbing today's hierarchy of opportunity, but I am sorry to inform you the educational tools you paid so dearly for, similar to a new car...are worth only a fraction once you choose to leave the lot. The real world on the other hand will reward you handsomely for the intangible tools you have accumulated along your somewhat short and sheltered journey through life. Below are a handful of what I call "golden" tools and badges that many of you possess, and I am willing to bet will propel several to incredible greatness. On the other hand, for those of you holding a PHD or graduating Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude or with some other distinct academic apparel but have obtained very few of the "golden" tools, I wish you the best...because your going to need it!
Creative Thinking - Can you think outside the box? Everyone can play out a winning hand or perform in a controlled environment. The world however is far from controlled, and I have found being dealt a winning hand can often be far and few between. Can you create simple solutions for everyday problems? Are you an independent thinker? I am not talking about better "sameness" like you have been rewarded for up to this point. I am talking about taking a blank canvass of life and creating a unique one-of-a-kind masterpiece!
Adversity - How many tokens or merit badges have you accumulated along your journey for overcoming extreme adversity? I find this to be a very essential ingredient for continued success throughout life. Can you land on all feet like a cat when life unpredictably tosses you through the air? Many kids enter life with a silver spoon in their mouth. This is fine as long as mommy and daddy can continue to control the environment or should I say continue to steer the race car, but what happens when the steering wheel of life is completely turned over? Are you prepared and capable of handling a "crash?" It is often said that great fighters, similar to great running-backs in football, need to be "calloused up" before starting the regular season or entering a prize fight. Are you "calloused up" enough to enter the game of life?
Failure - Life often awards hidden treasures to those who have "failed" the most. In school they have taught you how NOT to fail. Most of your parents have tried to insulate you from "failure" and control the setting to promote success not failure. Sorry to disappoint, but "I tried" trophies don't pay the rent or car payments. More times than not, the real world ultimately rewards "failure"...just ask the likes of Michael Jordan, Donald Trump, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson. All have experienced great success but without their failures it would have never been possible. Do you have it inside you to endure the disappointment associated with failure?
Competitiveness - Can you compete against the best? Once again, not in a controlled school type setting. I have found the world often rewards those who are highly competitive and willing to bite, kick and scrape for that extra inch. How many times have you had to fight for what you have? You will soon be competing against individuals who have had to fight, kick and scrape for every inch. Individuals who had no parents, kids who were beaten, abused and left to fend for themselves. Guess what, they have made it...and now they are competing against you. Do you have what it takes to win?
Awareness - The world is changing and evolving faster than ever before. What may have been hot or popular yesterday could quickly be a thing of the past. Are you perceptive and intuitive enough to smell the winds of change or are you simply good at following instructions and the patterns of today? Are you the hockey player that skates to where the puck is at or are one of the elite who has the innate ability to skate to where the puck is going to be? Life rewards handsomely those who can stay ahead of the crowd.
Personality - In school there is no credit or grade given for personality or savvy. Making friends or building networks were easy because the schools and your parents did it for you. Can you make it happen in the real world? The real world rewards handsomely for this tool. Regardless of what educators may preach about advancements in technology or changes in our marketplace, our world will always be dominated by human interaction. People, not machines, control the gate to success. Opportunities don't float like clouds in the sky...they are attached to real people. Living, breathing people with feelings and emotions. Do you know how to interact and push just the right buttons to open the gate?
Kindness - Are you a "builder-upper" or one that likes to tear things down? If given the task of building the tallest building in your home town, you can take one of two approaches in life. You can choose to destroy everyone else's building around you, looking for ways to trip them up, talk about them behind their back, etc... This ultimately makes you feel better about your measly one-story shack. On the other hand you can choose to be a "builder," traveling around your home town helping others build their building, providing words of encouragement, compliments regarding success and a helping hand when needed. Then when it is time to build your building everyone will come to help and you will then have the tallest in town. I challenge you to have a kind heart, ultimately you will be rewarded for your efforts.
Moderation - I have heard several of my elders who have been extremely successful tell me they learned way too late that the key to life is "moderation." We have been conditioned to be extremist. Always searching for that next extreme rush, high, or challenge. Maybe its an extreme diet, extreme workout, extreme religion or faith. In the end keeping the race car on the track seems to be more important than winning the race. Remember, the final prize, death, always goes to the fastest to finish. When someone tells you the early bird gets the worm, respond with, yes, but the second mouse ALWAYS gets the cheese...
Happiness - Once again, grades in school are not handed out based on your smile or overall demeanor, but in the end the "Golden Goose" goes to those who have most enjoyed the journey. Your years of preparation, training and stressing over grades is all for not if "happiness" is not the ultimate answer to the equation. I have watched countless people grind their way through life, dotting every "i" and crossing every "t" but without ever truly being happy or enjoying the journey. Remember it's all about the "climb," because often times when you get to the top the view isn't all you thought it was cracked up to be. Enjoy the everyday journey.
Understand the most important equation in life is " X + Y + Z = Happiness"... now I challenge you to fill in the variables!
Written by Kevin Van Trump | |
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Dear Class of 2013
