Remember your graduation? Do you remember what it felt like to put away your cap and gown after your many years of school had finally finished? You may have thought to yourself – what on earth do I do now?
Maybe you have children or family members that are asking themselves that same question.
What your life looked like when you graduated, compared to what it looks like now, is likely a very different picture.
Here are 5 things to help grads figure out what’s next after high school
Watch Facebook Live Replay – So you graduated, now what?
1.) You don’t need to know what you want to do for the rest of your life.
In fact, MOST people don’t know what they want to do when they’re young. It’s common to need to go and actually do something in order to determine what you like and what you don’t like.
It’s impossible to see what you’re fully capable of when you’re in high school. Right now, you might be feeling like you’re not quite sure where you want to go or what you want to do, but don’t worry about that. You will figure it out as you go along.
What’s really important right now is setting smaller goals along the way, so that you continue to move forward.
2.) Never ever feel forced to leave OR feel forced to come back.
What does that mean? If you finish high school and you’re not quite sure what you want to do next, why not take a year off school and go to college/university later. Or, you could apprentice and get a great job, learn on the job training versus going to college or university.
It’s also okay to come back to where you’re from, after you’ve finished school.
Diana is a 20-year-old who came back to her hometown to work for me. When she first came back a lot of people thought she dropped out of school, and that she had given up on her dreams. The real story was that what she really wanted to do is right here in the little town that she’s from.
Don’t let people make you feel like you have to leave, or have to stay. You’ve finished school and YOU get to choose where you want to spend the next portion of your life. Do not let other opinions have an impact on your decisions – because this is your life.
3.) If you want a big, abundant, wealthy lifestyle, learn about money right now.
You’ve just graduated and the next thing you know you’ve got student loans and you’re spending money that you don’t have. All of the sudden you’re going to hit a great big brick wall.
If one of your goals is to have a lot of money, start learning about it now. Read books that enriches your knowledge. Pay attention to blogs and YouTube videos where people are talking about money. Learn what money means so you can create an abundant life down the road.
4.) Find a mentor.
This mentor can be someone who you know personally, or someone who you look up to outside of your community. You can find mentors in various forms, it can be anyone from an author, a speaker, or even your employer. Jim Rohn is a mentor to millions and he passed away years ago.
Rohn had said – “You become the average of the five people that you spend the most time with.”
Who are the 5 people that you spend time with? Do you aspire to be like any of those 5 people?
If you look around and you don’t look up to ANY of them, it’s time for you to change it up. I’m not telling you to cut ties with all of your friends, but you need to start spending more time with people that you want to be like. Do you want to own a business? Find a business owner to learn from. Do you want to be a doctor? Go find somebody who is in medical school.
If you commit to learning from people who are farther along in those goals – they can help you get closer to what your dreams are. Spend your time with people who stretch you, people that make you bigger and bolder, and help you to attain your goals.
Find people who enrich your thinking, and help you become more of who you are in this life. Click To Tweet5.) Be really conscious of your habits.
Your habits today will define your success over the next five to ten years. If you have bad habits that aren’t serving you well now, those things are going to compound. Pay attention to them, and start to cultivate really great habits.
You can create the lifestyle that you want for yourself, no one else is going to do it for you, and don’t worry about what other people say or do.
This is YOUR life.
These are YOUR dreams.
