Dreaming Big as a Young Professional

The following is a Commencement Day speech given by the youngest head coach to ever win a National Football League Super Bowl, Mike Tomlin.  He gave this speech to the graduates of The College of William & Mary in the spring of 2008.  He structures it as if he were giving a pre-game speech to the graduates.  This portion of the speech talks about dreaming big and does an incredible job of highlighting the importance of young people having big dreams.  After reading through it, a few key statements will be examined that are especially significant for any young professional with the desire to accomplish greatness in thier lives and careers.

“Lastly, and this is a mandate, team. It is critical for success in today’s game.  I mandate, I urge you, never, ever, stop dreaming. That will be the biggest change in your life when you walk out of this locker room door today. It’s one of the things I love about working with younger people, in the business that I’m in. When you’re young, you dream and you dream wildly. You do. And it’s awesome.

Make the conscious daily decisions to take action to make those dreams a reality.”

The above portion of Tomlin’s speech does a terrific job of hitting five key points that you must keep in mind as you dream big and develop your vision.  Below are quotations to illustrate those key points, as well as an explanation of each.

“When you’re young, you dream and you dream wildly. You do. And it’s awesome.”

Let’s stop for a second, and think about what your dreams were at 8-years-old; possibly you saw yourself making the winning shot in Game 7 of the NBA Finals for your favorite team.  Perhaps you were the lead role on Broadway in your favorite show.  Or maybe you were the biggest movie star in Hollywood.  Regardless of what your dream was, there was one theme that was universally common – the dream was big.  Actually, the dream was huge, and there was nothing in the world that could stop you from imagining that feeling.  Never once did you think to yourself that maybe you weren’t talented enough to achieve that dream, or that it would take too long to reach it.  Your 8-year-old imagination was innocent and not crowded with the negative thoughts that most people carry with them in their adult lives.

Why is it that as people get older, they all of a sudden start to have doubt in their minds?  One day, you may suddenly feel you are not smart enough to get into graduate school.  There is no way that at 8-years-old you would have told yourself that being your own boss and running a highly successful company would be too difficult and that you didn’t have the time or money to do it.  The older people get, the more likely they are to find excuses and reasons why they can’t accomplish something.  The key is to block all of those excuses out of your mind and truly believe that you are capable of doing anything and everything that you can possibly imagine.

Do you think that at your age it is possible to dream like you once did?  If you concentrate and focus, is it possible to have wild dreams about success and happiness without worrying about the obstacles you may face?  Make the commitment right now that at the end of this book when you develop your personal vision you will dream like you used to as a child.

“The dreams are limitless. They know no bounds.”

Refuse to set the bar low for yourself when you develop your personal vision of success.  Don’t settle for less than your potential will allow.  Too often people are content with “just getting by” when they are capable of accomplishing so much more.  Just because someone else has not achieved something, doesn’t mean that you can’t do it.  Don’t try to simply match others’ successes, but surpass the accomplishments of others and create even higher standards for success.  When you create your dreams, there is no limit on how big and creative they can be.  The only limits that you face are the ones that you create in your own mind, from either your thoughts or the negative thoughts of those around you.  Make a commitment to have no limits or boundaries for the dreams that you create.

“I come across people that are successful in every walk of life. It’s one common bond that I notice that they all have… they’re ridiculous dreamers.”

Be a ridiculous dreamer; in fact be so ridiculous that everyone else around you thinks that you are crazy.  When Fred Smith wrote an economics paper on a concept for an overnight delivery service in a computer information age, his professor gave him a C grade and told him the idea was unrealistic.  In his 20s, Fred Smith turned this concept into FedEx, and his net worth is currently over $2 billion.  His professor thought his idea was crazy, and guess what, that’s the whole point.  Make the average person think you are absolutely insane because your visions and dreams are so much larger than everyone else around you.  Average people will only ever accomplish average things.

Right now, think of one of your dreams for your life that is absolutely ridiculous and that most people would think you are crazy for even thinking you could accomplish.  If you cannot think of one, then you will need to by the end of this book.  You must have at least one ridiculous dream that the average young professional would think was unattainable.  A person who dreams obnoxiously is better than someone who is scared to do so.  Be a ridiculous dreamer for the rest of your life.

“The difference is, what separates our dreams from the ones we all shared when we were children, is that we have to make daily choices, to take action.”

By setting the bar high with large dreams comes the responsibility to also align your daily actions with those dreams.  You cannot just say you want to do something without developing a specific plan and then sticking to it daily.  It is one thing to say that you want to be in the top 10% of your law class; it’s a completely different thing to actually study an hour longer each day than the others do in your class.

As an adult, you need to identify on a daily basis what it will take to reach your dreams, and then you must make the commitment to consistently do those activities necessary to be successful.  The difference between a dream and an actual success is the ability to persevere through the difficulties and accomplish everything necessary to reach the goals you set for yourself.

Having a strong daily routine that aligns with your vision is crucial.  If you have no routine, it’s easy for weeks, months or even years to pass before you realize you have done nothing to move closer to your vision.  If you identify what you must do daily to be successful, hold yourself accountable to that plan and consistently follow through with the necessary activities, then you will be successful.  If you do the necessary daily activities most of the time, you may eventually get there, but probably not as quickly or easily as you would have liked.  If you only do the necessary daily activities some of the time, then your chances of accomplishing your goals are even slimmer.  The bottom line is simple – if you develop an effective daily plan and stick to it, you will be successful.  Your actions will determine your fate.

“Don’t let the realities of the world that awaits you on the other side of that locker room door, diminish those dreams.”

You are an ambitious, hard-working individual who wants to be successful in this world.  If you weren’t, then you wouldn’t be reading this book right now.  The reality of this world is that most people aren’t built like you.  Do not let those people diminish your dreams, and do not let them ever tell you what you can and can’t do in this world.

Young Professional Success Tip – Be Opportunistic

I always find it fascinating to compare the difference between school and the “real world.”  In a lot of ways, being successful at both takes the same characteristics.  You must work hard, have a willingness to learn, work well with others, etc.  One of the biggest differences that I find between the classroom and the real world is that one must be opportunistic in the real world in order to become highly successful.  Being opportunistic is simply being ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes along, as well as being able to recognize opportunities that the average person will never even notice.

In school, if you get 95% of the assignments right you will always get an A.  In the real world, however, you can get 100% of everything you do right, be absolutely perfect and still walk into work one day and find out that your position is eliminated.  You could also find out that you were passed over for a promotion by someone who is younger than you and not nearly as productive.

The point I’m making is that you need to create your own path and the more opportunities you can recognize and take advantage of to advance yourself, the quicker you will become successful.  If you work hard, build positive relationships with the right people and constantly display a positive attitude, opportunities will come to you much faster than they do to the average person.  Your opportunities will also be bigger and better because people will see the value that you bring and will want you to be part of their organization.

College Success Tip – Go To Class And Participate

There is a quote by Woody Allen that says, “80% of life is just showing up.”  When it comes to college, this is a very applicable theory.  If you show up for every class, take notes, ask questions, participate and stay awake you will make your life a lot easier and give yourself a much greater chance for success.  In the vast majority of your classes, just doing this will get you an A or B.

It may seem easier to just skip class and get the notes from a friend or do the crossword puzzle during class and figure out the material before the next exam.  The truth is that this isn’t the easy way to do things.  It’s actually the hard way because you are going to have to figure everything out on your own at the last minute before the exam.  If you understand material in class and are completely focused, it will save you a ton of study time later on in the semester.

Participation will go a far way in determining your success.  Even if there isn’t an official participation grade in your class, professors will always show favoritism at the end of the semester for those who are active participants in class.  Imagine how frustrated and disrespected professors feel when a student isn’t paying attention to them – do you think they are going to do any favors for those students at the end of the semester?  You are already there in class, so why not raise your hand a few times and offer an opinion?  Just wait for the questions that you can easily answer and fire away!

The Bottom Line: Show up, take notes, ask questions, participate and stay awake.  It’s that simple.  This will make your life much easier and allow you to spend more time with your friends and involved in activities.

Interesting Social Media Statistics to Consider….

•Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
•1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
•Years to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)… Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
•If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia
•1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum
•% of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees…. 80%
•The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
•The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
•Wikipedia has over 13 million articles… some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica
•There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
•54% = Number of bloggers who post content or tweet daily
•People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them
•78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, Only 14% trust advertisements AND Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
•In the near future we will no longer search for products and services they will find us via social media
•More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook… daily.
•Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy Listening first, selling second.

(Stats above from Socialnomics – http://www.socialnomics.com)

Why Young Professionals Must Embrace Risk on the Road to Success

If you are a young professional with the desire to become successful then you must understand the relationship between risk and achieving your goals.  You will always be more successful if you find something you are passionate about and do whatever is necessary to accomplish your goal.  The more that you are willing to risk, the greater the potential reward; if you are unable to put yourself out there and take risks at the appropriate times in life, then you will never truly know your potential for greatness.  Every successful individual has taken risks in order to achieve his or her own vision of success, and you must be no different.  Figure out what you want, do your best to understand all of the potential risks involved and determine whether you are prepared to handle the responsibilities and setbacks that may occur.  You must also know the reward, which is achieving a goal of yours; understand the feeling of being successful and how it will change your life so that you can persevere through the inevitable difficulties.

Why is risk taking important?

Risk taking is crucial on the road to success because it challenges you and pushes you to a whole new level of motivation.  People always work harder when something is on the line, both consciously and subconsciously.  When nothing is at stake, there is no sense of urgency to make things happen.  Risk taking gives you the ability to reach your true potential and as a young professional, nothing is more important than truly testing your abilities in order to see how successful you can be.

Risk vs. Reward

The larger the risk you take, the larger the potential reward.  In any situation, ask yourself what the best possible outcome is and what the worst possible outcome is.  If you have created a well defined vision of your successful future and truly know what will make you happy, then the best possible outcome is your dream becoming a reality.  It’s what will make you feel satisfied and proud of your accomplishments.  On the flip side, think about the worst possible outcome; chances are that no matter what the worst scenario possible is, it is still worth your attempt.

When you are scared of taking a risk, just think about that worst possible outcome – for me personally, I decided to write a book.  I knew it would take over a thousand hours of time and effort.  What’s the worst that could happen?  People don’t like it?  Nobody even buys it in the first place?  I looked at the worst possible outcomes and realized they weren’t as bad as they might appear at first.  If you feel as though the worst possible outcome is too significant to face, then you haven’t created a vision that is meaningful enough to you.

Failure and Adversity

Taking a risk and failing is better than never risking anything in life and simply taking the easy road every chance you get.  Many successful people failed before they became successful.  As a young professional, you have far less to risk than you will later in life.  If you wait until you are 50 years old to take a major risk, you may need to factor in a spouse, children, mortgage payments, taking care of your parents and everything else that life has a way of throwing at you as you get older.  The longer you wait, the harder it may be to even take a risk and if so, you are risking a lot more and have less time to learn from your mistakes.  Have the courage to take your risks when you are young; it only gets harder as times goes along.  Facing adversity and failing are important; they will make you stronger and smarter.  People who have not been challenged, yet fail, become afraid of failure.  They end up constantly taking the easy road and often miss out on better opportunities because they were too afraid of failure.  Even when you take chances and fail, you are still better off than if you had never taken them at all.  The important part is to learn from everything that you do in life and to be a better person because of those experiences – whether they’re successes or failures.

A Final Word About Risk

So many people fear the word risk and cringe when they hear it.  The truth is, risk can be a great thing if you have created a clear vision for your future.  Risk can motivate you and inspire you to do things you never thought possible.  Once you have developed that awesome vision for yourself go out there and take a risk – you’ll never regret it!

Why You Must Have a Strong Ethic to Be Successful as a Young Professional

Of all the traits that successful young professionals possess, the most common trait is that they simply work harder than anyone else around them.  They have a larger desire to be the best at what they do and are committed to doing everything necessary to learn and to improve themselves.  Having a strong work ethic is mandatory if you want to enjoy success in life.  Whether you are in medical school, have a sales career or are pursuing an entrepreneurial venture, remember that everyone who is ultimately successful in life faced challenges early on and responded by working harder than the average young professional.

When I was writing my first book I had interviewed a lot of successful people, both young professionals and those well beyond, to try and find one common link among them all, possibly the secret to success.  What did the most successful people do differently than everyone else?  What types of careers gave them a better chance at earning a significant income?  What the research revealed is that anyone can be successful at anything as long as the will to work hard is present.  Those successful people all pounded the pavement, rolled up their sleeves and gave everything they had to whatever they were doing at the moment.  That hard work gave them opportunities that the average person in their peer group would have never received.  Some of them failed at three different things before reaching any level of success, but they never gave up their hard work ethics at any point.

If you are truly giving your best effort to everything that you do, it’s only a matter of time before better opportunities come your way; there is nothing more that people appreciate from a young person than showing the will to work as hard as possible. Successful people will always help out hard working and ambitious individuals who have the potential to achieve greatness.

There is a huge reluctance on the part of many young professionals to display a strong work ethic.  One of the main reasons for this is a lack of vision and absence of seeing the long-term benefit of hard work.  Once you understand the direct correlation between effort and success, you can then realize that things will only get better and this difficult phase early on in your life will have a very happy ending.

The bottom line is this – if you work exceptionally hard each and every day, you will give yourself an exponentially greater chance at immediate and long term success.  Display a strong work ethic and give your absolute best to everything you are involved with!

College Success Tip – Learn How To Be Completely Independent

As a college student, you have a tremendous amount of freedom.  You are also independent and on your own, which means you need to take care of yourself.  Challenge yourself to be truly independent and manage your entire life, without being reliant on anyone else.  Some of the things you can do to be independent include:

• Paying your bills
• Managing your bank account
• Doing laundry
• Grocery shopping
• Cooking for yourself
• Cleaning up after yourself
• Creating and tracking a monthly budget
• Servicing your car
• Going to regular doctor checkups
• Building professional relationships

There are many others, but the basic idea is that you can handle everything on your own.  Does this mean you can’t have your mom do your laundry over a break?  Of course it doesn’t, but make sure you know how to do it and can take care of it yourself when your at school.

Also be an independent thinker; make the right decisions for yourself, and don’t do things because other people think you should.  This doesn’t mean you should ignore everyone else, but at the end of the day you need to make up your own mind about what is best for you and what will make you the happiest.
The Bottom Line: Put yourself in a position where you don’t need to rely on anyone else to do anything for you.  Be independent and capable of running every aspect of your life – you’ll be years ahead of many adults who still can’t manage a bank account or clean up after themselves!

How To Land Your Dream Career – What to do After the Interview

The best thing you can do after the interview is to be “politely persistent”.  Be aggressive in your follow up after the interview.  It is better to be a bit on the annoying side than to not show enough interest.  Send a quick email to everyone you met with to let each of them know you enjoyed the time you spent together and look forward to the next step.  Don’t be annoying, but make sure to stay in contact regularly with each person who interviewed you.  Employers
will appreciate your persistence.

It is important to note that no one of these individual tips will make or break your chances of securing the right opportunity.  However, following all of them will separate you from your competition and give you a significant advantage.

How To Land Your Dream Career – What to do During the Interview

By doing a few simple things during an interview, you will look better than the other people who walk through that door.  Many young professionals have a bad “look”, have no confidence in themselves or are not prepared at all.  Just follow these steps and you will be significantly more impressive than your competition.

Make sure to show up 10 minutes early for the interview and then make a great first impression.  You will be well dressed and look sharp; if you are unsure about the dress code, then be safe and overdress.  Be enthusiastic and confident from the start.  Have a friendly demeanor with the receptionist; ask her how her day is going and professionally ask for the person you are meeting with.  Do not sit down while you are waiting in the lobby; instead, stand tall, be confident and be ready to impress them.  I promise none of the other people you are competing with for the opportunity will do this.  When that person arrives, give him or her a firm handshake and say that it is a pleasure to meet.  Let them know you have been looking forward to this opportunity.

Once the interview gets rolling, intelligently answer each question asked of you.  Be brief and to the point.  Don’t hesitate when answering.  Simply be honest, confident and brief with your response.  They will appreciate this strong communication.  Your answers should also be well stated; for instance, “I will” sounds a million times better than “I think I can.”  Go into this interview knowing you are the best candidate for the position and that you will be extremely successful if given the opportunity.  Don’t be arrogant; just be confident in your abilities and skill set.

Throughout the interview, maintain a high level of enthusiasm.  Market yourself effectively by bringing up past experiences that exemplify why you have the necessary skills or personality for the opportunity.  Show the interviewer how valuable you will be to the company and what you bring to the table (such as selling lots of product, coming up with great marketing ideas or transitioning into a leadership role).

Make sure you are being yourself during the interview.  Be comfortable and honest, there is no sense in pretending to be someone that you aren’t.  Earn the opportunity based on the type of person you are, not on who you think the interviewer is looking for.  If this truly is the best opportunity for you, then the interviewer will appreciate you for your personality.  Ask every question you can possibly think of and remember you are interviewing the company just as much as the company is interviewing you.  Virtually every other person they interview will be nervous, trying to act like someone they aren’t and feel uncomfortable.  Keep in mind that you are there to determine if you want to be part of this organization, not to pretend to be someone else.  Taking this approach will give you a unique attitude and a great deal of confidence.

How To Land Your Dream Career – What to do Before the Interview

Prior to any interview, the biggest thing you need to do is prepare.  Research the company, their competition, read current articles on the company, read through as much information as you can about the specific opportunity you are interviewing for and talk to others who are familiar with the position or industry.  Prepare a list of questions that will show your sincere interest in the opportunity and will reflect the effort you have put into your career search.

In regards to your resume, the biggest thing you must keep in mind is that every one of your past experiences needs to translate into a reason why you will be perfect for the opportunity for which you are interviewing.  Explain how your past community involvement, leadership positions, internships and work experience will allow you to excel in this position.  You need to be able to intelligently explain why serving as president of your fraternity developed your leadership traits, and gave you a high level of confidence, great organizational skills, and the perseverance to be successful in difficult situations.  Be able to explain how volunteering in the community while being a full time student gave you the ability to balance a variety of responsibilities while being successful at each of them.  Make sure that each of your past experiences is a huge part of who you are and who you will be.  Be proud of your past successes and find reasons why each of those experiences will factor into your future successes.

Keep in mind that those who interview you may meet with 5-10 different people each day.  You need to separate yourself from the others and impress the person interviewing you.  Being prepared with detailed questions about the opportunity, organization and industry will make your discussion a lot more interesting than the conversations had with other interviewees.