You don’t graduate and start a career. You take the first step, then the next, and the next, and over time, you build a career through ups, downs, and countless adjustments.
In some form or another, that advice makes its way into every workshop or presentation I give to students. It’s what I wish I had known when I was wrapping up my education, and it’s what I think serves us all well even as we advance in our work and lives.
Big Picture Thinking:
While it’s important, from time to time, for us to think about the big picture, an over-emphasis on the long term can keep us from focusing on the present. And if we lose sight of what matters most here and now, no amount of big-picture thinking will save us.
The First Right Step:
So we need to ask ourselves regularly…
What matters most? How might we work toward those things today? This week? This month? What’s the right thing to do right here, right now?
And then we must take the first step, then the next, and the next, and over time, through ups, downs, and countless adjustments, we can go about building a meaningful life.
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