Congrats, grads! You made it through four years of papers, parties and lots and lots of pizza. Well done. You should be very proud of yourselves.
But now the real fun begins. If you don't know this yet, you'll soon realize that being in college is kind of like living in a bubble for four years. No, you cannot go to a kegger, pull an all-nighter and then ace your political science final the next day. The real world unfortunately does not work like that.
Though leaving college and essentially your childhood behind is scary, it's also an exciting time and one where you will learn lots of lessons about yourself, those around you and life in general along the way. No, the learning doesn't end just because you (thankfully) don't have to drag yourself out of bed to attend that art history class at 9 a.m. on Fridays anymore.
If you want to navigate post-grad life successfully, you've got to be open to taking note of these lessons as they come and adapt accordingly. You'll hear a lot of advice on how to adult during graduation time from your peers, professors and parents, which can be overwhelming. Some of it will be good and some of it will be bad, and it's up to you to figure out what's what.
However, for an instant pick-me-up for the times when post-grad life seems to be all too much, the thousands of TED Talks available online should provide some solid motivation in just a few minutes of your time. You'll find talks on everything from achieving work-life balance to chasing your dreams to finding peace of mind, all good things to know as you try to figure out who you want to be in this world. Here are 11 TED Talks that are essential viewing for any new grad.
1. Matt Cutts - "Try something new for 30 days"
Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam Team, has a short but sweet TED Talk on how to accomplish your goals. It turns out, if you change your behavior for 30 days, you might just be able to change your life.
2. Brene Brown - "The power of vulnerability"
Researcher Brene Brown's 2010 TED Talk on vulnerability went viral, garnering nearly 20 million views by the time of this writing, and for good reason. Brown will show you how our darkest, weakest moments can be the most powerful.
3. Larry Smith - "Why you will fail to have a great career"
Great careers aren't found; they're followed. Larry Smith, a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, shows why you won't be able to have a career you love — unless you follow your passion.
4. Nigel Marsh - "How to make work-life balance work"
When you're young and just starting out in your career, you may be tempted to say yes to everything, regardless of how it affects other, non-work-related areas of your life. While that may be OK for a while, you will eventually burn yourself out, which isn't good for you, your employer or anyone in your life, for that matter. Though "having it all," whether you're a man or a woman, isn't really a thing, author Nigel Marsh shows how you can achieve something resembling a work-life balance.
5. Meg Jay - "Why 30 is not the new 20"
Contrary to popular belief, twentysomethings cannot do whatever they want because they're young and don't have any real responsibilities yet. Shocking, I know. In this TED Talk, clinical psychologist Meg Jay shows why your 20s are some of the most formative years of your life and how to take advantage of that time.
6. David Steindl-Rast - "Want to be happy? Be grateful"
No matter how bad it gets, it's always important to remember all of the wonderful things in your life that you should be grateful for. Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast shows how, if you take a moment to recognize all that's wonderful in your life, you might just be able to find peace amid all of the craziness.
7. Ruth Chang - "How to make hard choices"
Post-grad life is full of important decisions that could greatly impact the rest of your life. What do I want to do for a living? Where do I want to live? What kind of person do I want to be? No pressure. However, philosopher Ruth Chang imparts some wisdom in this TED Talk from 2014 to help you better understand decision-making so that you end up making the right choices in the end.
8. Elizabeth Gilbert - "Success, failure and the drive to keep writing"
Elizabeth Gilbert may have scored mega-success with her best-seller Eat, Pray, Love, but that doesn't mean she lived happily ever after. When that happened, Gilbert felt just as insecure as when she was a waitress at a diner after college, failing again and again to get her writing published. However, Gilbert explains that all she had to do to escape that fear and continue to do what she loves was find her way home again.
9. Ben Dunlap - "The life-long learner"
As I touched on earlier, learning is a lifelong activity that doesn't go away just because you're not in school anymore. Wofford College President Ben Dunlap uses the remarkable story of Hungarian Holocaust survivor Sandor Teszler to show how to learn your life to the fullest.
10. Caroline Casey - "Looking past limits"
If you ever feel like quitting, just watch activist Caroline Casey's 2010 TED Talk about how she learned to not let being legally blind get in the way of her life. Casey shows the only thing that stands in the way of achieving whatever you want is you.
11. Candy Chang - "Before I die I want to..."
Life is short, so you can't wait around hoping for your dreams to come true. You need to go out and make them happen. Artist Candy Chang's story of how she turned an abandoned New Orleans house into a giant chalkboard where people listed what they hoped to accomplish in their lives will inspire you to achieve your goals.
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Photo: Jason Bache | Flickr
