This weekend marks my tenth year since graduating from college. And each year I think about the bizarre paradox of much time has objectively passed compared to the acute feeling that no time has passed at all. I still feel like the same 22-year-old self. And much to the dismay of my 22-year-old self, I haven't figured out what I thought I would ten years out.
I figured out a whole lot more. The game, as far as you're concerned when you're very young, is to ace the level and get the gold star. But you soon learn that that is just the game within the game. There is a bigger game. And the real game, it turns out, is a lot hairier with no linear levels and no gold stars. In the real game, you win by getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, you win by getting comfortable with constant change.
Getting "comfortable with the uncomfortable" is a bit of a platitude. But it's in watching these commencement speeches that I was reminded of just how universal this reality is and how it manifests in everyday life. This year, while watching the speeches, I realized there was a common thread, a common theme, running through most speeches. And it starts with being fully present, with the liberty I've taken to emphasize that it's today, right here, right now.
"Lean All The Way In [Today]..."
One of the best decisions I made in my life was just to lean all the way in … People ask me how I got into acting, and the truth is, I didn’t get into acting. I got into everything … For the next four years I wanted to be part of it all, I formed a new way of thinking. A new way of executing those thoughts. I left my comfort zone and then stayed there, and left again. I experienced firsthand the powerful shift in doing something out of love, rather than necessity.”
-- John Krasinski at Brown University
"Leadership Is The Mindset You Have [Today]..."
I urge you to see yourself as leaders starting now…Leadership is not about the role you have in a company or whether you are CEO… it is the mindset you have, the responsibility you choose to take and the way you act every day. That is what makes a leader. I’d like to take the next 10 minutes or so to share three important moments in my career…and the three enduring lessons they taught me … about leadership.”
-- Julie Sweet, CEO of North America at Accenture, at McCombs School of Business
"Everything Is Possible [Today]..."
Nothing can be taken for granted. Our individual liberties are not givens. Democracy is not something we can take for granted. Neither is peace, and neither is prosperity. But if we break down the walls that hem us in if we step out into the open and have the courage to embrace new beginnings, everything is possible.”
-- Angela Merkel at Harvard University
"Everything Is Always Working Out [Today]..."
‘Everything is always working out for me.’ That’s my mantra. Make it yours. ‘Everything is always working out for me.’ Because it is. And it has. And it will continue to be as you forge and discover your own path."
-- Oprah Winfrey at Colorado College
"We Said We Will, And We Did [Today]..."
Getting fired was a point of failure like nothing I had ever experienced before...It was hurtful after all the years I had devoted to the firm. It was worrisome – what would I do now? And it was unfair, or at least I thought so. But it also became a turning point in my life. When it happened, the easiest option would've been to swallow my pride, send my resume to other firms, and do the same thing I'd been doing since I’d gotten out of school….There were a million reasons why people told me: you can't. But I sucked it up and assembled a small, young team that believed in the idea, and together we said: we will. And we did. So getting fired was tough. But there was a silver lining, because it was an opportunity to do something that I really wanted to do.”
-- Michael Bloomberg at University of Maryland
While commencement speeches are often considered to be a bit cliche, at the core I still find the lessons meaningful. And the theme I want to highlight, the theme that runs through all of these speeches, is the idea that you have to make the most of the opportunities that exist in the present moment. You have to take advantage of what you are given in this very moment.
So many of us, especially in the U.S., get caught up in making five-year plans, to achieve, achieve, achieve! And in cultivating that mindset, we accidentally miss opportunities that exist right in front of us. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my career is to really lean in, take ownership, or embrace whatever opportunity you’re given in the present moment, however small or seemingly unimportant, treat it like it holds a lot of import.
Your brain, nor your imagination, can envision all the possible options that lie before you. And some of the best and most beautiful things in life will be things you could have never imagined that appear when you least expect them.
That’s the first theme but it’s not the last...
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