In today’s episode of the Leader Fluent Podcast, I’m talking about “Seven Words of Wisdom for Graduates.” The graduation season is a great time of celebration, but as you enter into a new chapter of your life, I’d love to share seven practical insights that will help you succeed in the future. 

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After celebrating your graduation, let me encourage you to take to heart seven practical and helpful words of wisdom. 

Be careful not to sacrifice your character on the altar of achievement and results. In other words, don’t take shortcuts that ding your character. Ruth Haley Barton once said, “We set young leaders up for a fall if we encourage them to envision what they can do before they consider the kind of person they should be.” So, what kind of person do you want to be? Work hard to cultivate character so that your success doesn’t outpace who you are.

Authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner call learning the “Master Skill.” In other words, it’s the skill that makes all other skills possible. Learning is the skill that opens the door to future opportunities, future growth, and ultimately the person you want to become. Today might be the day you graduate school, but the day you graduate learning should be the day you draw your last breath. Do your future a favor and be a lifelong learner. 

Success is usually perceived as a glamorous, adventure-filled road of glory, but it’s easy to forget that most overnight successes are actually twenty years in the making. Unfortunately, we tend to see the beauty of success but never the boredom of success.

So, what’s my point? Behind the glitz and glamour of successful people is usually a very routine, even at times very boring, set of disciplines. Let me say it another way: riveting success is always preceded by routine boredom. In other words, before success ever shows up, there are days, weeks, months, and even years of disciplined, step-by-step, methodical, vanilla, bland routines. 

Think about it—professional golfers spend hours every day on the golf course…when the cameras aren’trolling. Musicians spend countless hours practicing…before a single concert ticket is ever sold. CEO’s spend untold hours in long meetings making tough decisions…before the bottom line ever shows a profit. And authors agonize over every chapter and go through endless rounds of edits…before a single copy of their book hits the shelves.

That’s the boredom of success. But it’s worth it. It makes the success sweeter, and it helps us develop the character necessary to sustain the success. Boredom is part of the journey. So, rather than getting caught up in looking successful, pursue the boredom of success by establishing daily disciplines that will produce long-term health in key areas of your life.

While there are all kinds of bad attitudes, let me mention just three of them that can be particularly disruptive to your future. 

• An attitude of negativity
  

• An attitude of arrogance
  

• An attitude of entitlement. 
  

If you avoid these bad attitudes, you will go farther, faster. If you have a positive attitude, you’ll connect better with people and you’ll be positioned with the mindset to see and seize the opportunities before you. 

All of us will have both successes and failures in life. Nobody is all success and zero failure or all failure and zero success. So, here’s the truth you must keep in mind: Don’t let success go to your head, and don’t let failure go to your heart. Don’t’ let success inflate your ego, and don’t let failure define you. As you move into a new season of life, you will experience both success and failure. That’s part of the journey. The difference-maker is how you respond when success and failure come. Celebration and humility are great responses to success. And reflection and learning are great responses to failure. 

Some people are extremely smart in school but extremely dumb with people. They’ve got the book smarts, but they haven’t learned how to work with people. They lack emotional intelligence, the ability to build trust, and the skills to make people feel valued. 

Please hear this: your book smarts might get you hired, but your inability to connect with people will get you fired. In fact, attitude issues and poor people skills are among the top reasons people lose their jobs. To become people smart, start with three things: 1) Control your emotions. 2) Cultivate an empathetic heart. 3) Develop a listening ear. Those three things will take you a long way with people. 

Graduating school is a transition point where we leave the familiarity of school and step into a new job, or a new role, or even a new degree program that requires a higher level of discipline and hard work. And it’s in transition moments like these that we have to learn to trust God more. 

Proverbs 3:5-8 says, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!” (MSG). 

Congratulations to all of our graduates. I hope these words help you make the next chapter in your life wildly successful.

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