What three “gifts” would you give a 20-something if you were a “Forty-Godmother”? Here 40-somethings share three wishes to help a 20-something get a head start on the confidence to make decisions that are right for themselves. No more woulda, coulda, shoulda.
1.You can’t just show up at your job. You have to have to work at it very hard.
It’s a lot easier to do that if your job is aligned with your values. .I was working for a big consulting firm after I graduated. It was what I was supposed to do. You go to graduate school, You accept the biggest offer so you pay off your debt. But I was unhappy in my gut. You have to have the confidence to leave. Mine came in the form of reading What Color Is My Parachute and realizing that my parents we’re going to be okay with it. In the end they want you to be happy. 20 years ago leaving a job was hard. Leaving today is easy. There is less stigma about only staying at a place for a year. So I wish I had put less pressure on myself. Don’t put pressure on yourself to make something work when your gut tells you it is wrong.If you are resourceful, you will find a job.
2. Try things. Just try something you want to do every year from your twenties through your forties. It’s okay to just try something. It doesn’t have to be the rest of your life.
3. You can’t get married to someone else when you don’t know yourself. I didn’t know enough about what i wanted.
– now 50-something, author, coach, wife, mother
on Twitter
on Facebook
on Google+