5 Ways to Adjust to Post-Grad Life

Assimilating into your career after college is unlike any challenge experienced before. You have to use every bit of advice, knowledge, and experience up to this point in your life and apply it in this new, uncharted territory. You’re not given training wheels right out of college with someone to catch you if you fall, and there’s certainly no participation grades. Much of what you do from here on out is dictated by you, and the actions you take have long-term impacts regardless of whether they are good or bad. For many, it’s a daunting challenge. To make it easier and FUN, we have created five principles to aid you so that you can confidently begin your journey regardless of whether you’re about to graduate, just recently graduated, or simply want to improve yourself both personally and professionally. Let’s get started!

#1 – Build a system of good habits.

For a lot of us, we still cling to the same circadian rhythm our bodies and minds have so naturally adjusted to over the course of our schooling careers. We’re programmed to wake up, go to school, participate, receive a grade, and then repeat. While this cycle may have been beneficial for quite some time, it doesn’t necessarily benefit it us in our new careers.

Our first piece of advice is to immediately begin building a system of new habits to replace any of the old ones so that you can restructure your body and mind. For example, one thing we’re taught in life is to have a very goal-oriented mindset and apply the S.M.A.R.T. method to ensure those goals are met. In other words, setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound. But what if we told you that you didn’t need to set goals at all? In the book, Atomic Habits, author James Clear alludes to the idea that goal-setting is actually less helpful than we may think. He uses an example of how setting a goal to clean up your room may result in you accomplishing the goal, but because a system of good habits was never built, your room inevitably becomes cluttered again. Meaning, you have to once again set the same goal. As he puts it, “Goals are good for setting direction, but systems are best for making progress.” James explains how if your end goal is to play a new musical piece, for example, your system would be “how often you practice, how you breakdown and tackle difficult measures, and your method for receiving feedback from your instructor.” Start looking at the little nuances in your day to day life that add to your end goals and build a system around them.

#2 – Stay disciplined.

This might be a cliche one, but it’s certainly just as relevant as the other principles. The idea of staying disciplined is pretty straightforward. For example, just like a bodybuilder needs to abide by a restricted diet, we all have disciplines we have in our daily life as well from an occupational standpoint. We brush our teeth so they stay healthy, we clean our clothes when they are dirty, and we make our beds look neat. To us, there is a bit of underlying meaning to this. Staying disciplined is really a way for us to be our best selves and create other avenues for us to self-reflect and improve as individuals. In addition to building a system of good habits, our suggestion is to start focusing on ways you can improve your energy, mindset, and efficiency specifically as you acclimate to your career. Were you a night owl in college? Start by gradually going to bed earlier and earlier. Have trouble falling asleep? Put down all electronics an hour before you go to sleep, and make sure you avoid eating sugar or drinking beverages with caffeine. Too distracted throughout the day? Take a few minutes here and there to regather yourself with things like stretching, reading a book, stepping outside for some fresh air, taking a quick walk, playing with a pet, or anything you can to reset your brain without the use of technology. Your body and mind are vital to both the value you bring and the success you see each day. You will be surprised at how much more you can take on each day when your mind and body are at peak performance, allowing you to excel early on in your career and develop a tenacity that goes far beyond your peers.

#3 – Be curious.

This principle is not an obvious one. For some, it’s very innate to their personality. For others, it feels like a bit of a chore. The fact is, you could be the smartest, savviest person in the world but could overlook one minor detail that costs you and your company thousands of dollars. The golden rule here is to not assume anything and make sure you stay diligent and curious. If something looks off, it probably is! Your mind is exceptional at distilling information, setting irregularities aside, and providing you with a gut instinct. So, be sure to listen to it.

#4 – Seek out feedback and mentorship.

We’re all still very raw when we graduate. The best thing we can do is continue learning from our failures and draw constructive feedback from mentors and higher-ups. Just like all bad publicity is good publicity, the same can generally be said for feedback. Whether the feedback someone is giving is justified or not, the best thing you can do is be open-minded and take each point into high consideration. Oftentimes, having a mentor is the perfect source for feedback as the right ones will understand you well enough to know how you take it the simplest, and they will have your best interest at hand. In other words, the more support you can find, the more improvement you will have. Never stop improving!

#5 – Embrace adversity and ambiguity.

This principle is likely an effect we see from the habits we form as students throughout our schooling careers. In the teacher-student relationship, we’re given rubrics and instructions to complete assignments, and if we fail, it’s because we didn’t follow their prescriptive direction. Ultimately, we take it on the chin and do it again in the hopes of improving next time. The reality of the world is that it does not follow the same pattern. In many cases, employers do not give direction upfront, and oftentimes expect you to work through ambiguous and adverse situations. While this can be difficult at first, especially if you’re not accustomed to this style of work yet, the best thing to do is embrace the challenge. You will find over time that there a number of ways to complete tasks when there are no instructions. It gives you a whiteboard to let your creative decision making run wild, and typically, people will notice the warriors who can work with what they are given and don’t ask for extra direction. Like with any challenge, make sure to just start and allow yourself to run through the problem-solving process, and you will be surprised how rewarding it becomes.

Do you agree with our list? If you’re looking for your next opportunity, we’d love to chat. Click the Seekers link to fill out our questionnaire!