It's All About Passion, Attitude, and Patience

By Eddy Cruz, Director of Career Development

For our recent May graduates, for many, walking across the commencement stage brings with it a sense of jubilation as well as a perceived end point.  However, what many recent graduates fail to realize is that this point is not necessarily the end, rather a new beginning to what is to come.  So now after walking across the stage you begin to mentally prepare yourself for your impending job search, which ultimately leads to the first day within your new role as a professional. You realize the ability to take naps between classes is no more! The transition from college to career begins to set in and now you find yourself asking now what?  Well, it’s your lucky day, I would like to share three tips with you that were shared with me when I made a similar transition - oh, so long ago. So when starting out, keep in mind, it's all about passion, attitude, and patience.

Passion

Passion is key when beginning something new regardless of what it is. If you are not passionate about what you are doing it will show through in all that you do and will impact the outcomes of your work. Without passion, getting up every day for work will be work. This will lead you down a path of an unfavorable experience for both you and the organization. If you find yourself in a situation that is not what you hoped, you have two options, first, move on to a new position or second, find something within your role that you are passionate about and use this to inspire and motivate you. Passion propels you to do better and to be better. Every aspect of a position as you start your career will not always be something you are passionate about, however, it is all in how you approach it.

Attitude
Attitude is your approach to people, tasks, and conflict. Over my career I have had the opportunity to learn by observing and doing. Some of the greatest lessons I learned were from situations that did not directly involve me. I was able to observe from afar and gain some knowledge to use during similar situations in the future. When you find yourself in a new environment, take time to observe how your peers and leadership handle themselves in a variety of situations.  A wise man once said all humans make mistakes, but the wise learn from the mistakes of others. Do not blame others or circumstances for your mistakes. Take accountability and move forward. Another lesson learned is when I choose to have a positive attitude, I produce positive outcomes. You can learn a lot from others; emulate the positive and stay away from the negative behaviors.

Your approach to work is determined by the attitude you come in with. People do not want to be around others who are negative, a gossip, or a know-it-all. Keep focus in your work and maintain a positive attitude in all that you do. Leaders of your organization are always seeking out individuals with the right attitude with the desire to move the organization forward.

Patience

Another valuable lesson learned from a past mentor was the importance of patience. He would always say, "Let the DNA wrap around you!" Meaning, be patient and take the necessary time to learn about the organization. Allow yourself to become a part of the organization's DNA makeup.  By gaining this understanding you begin to understand where the organization is going and begin to live it as well. Additionally, it becomes easier to understand expectations; they make sense and become clearer.

All in all, I hope you are able to take some of these suggestions and learn from my experience. As you begin your career remember these three things as you start your journey. It's all about having passion for what you are doing, having the right attitude, and practicing patience, and you will get going in the right direction for career success!

Making a New Year’s Resolution and Sticking to It

Written by Oleg Ignatenko


Every year we are presented with a chance to make a Resolution. For some, it may be to stop smoking, lose weight or start a family. Let’s take an educational approach here and set resolutions such as to get an internship for the summer, to raise the GPA to above 3.5 or depending on the Graduation date, to get hired by an employer in your field of study. But the question remains, “When to start the process of realizing and accomplishing this resolution?” The best answer is “Now!” The majority of people tend to wait before starting something new such as a project or some sort of commitment just because we are natural procrastinators. But that doesn’t have to be the way. Telling yourself that you will begin next week is just an excuse to push that responsibility off of yourself and delay it further. Instead, surprise yourself and begin today, now, at this very moment. If it is something that you have your mind set on and you know that eventually it is something that has to be done, then, there is no reason to wait any longer.

Depending on what type of a resolution you have set out to accomplish, most of all you will need to develop a plan, a sense of patience and the will to persevere. As quoted by Winston Churchill “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.” By not having a plan, you are setting yourself up for disaster. Just as a football team trains and prepares themselves for a specific opponent or a business employee who readies to present a PowerPoint presentation to their company, both need to develop a plan, a strategy that will allow them to succeed in their trials. “Patience is the greatest of all virtues” – Cato the Elder (234 BC – 149 BC). Patience is something that a lot of people lack and need practice to control. Lack of patience might be the single greatest reason that many get frustrated and give up their ambitions and dreams. We all know that spending an entire day at the gym is not going to instantly make you lose 20 pounds. Realistically speaking, to accomplish something great and worthy of being proud of takes time and hard work. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another” – Walter Elliot. Hard work and perseverance go hand in hand. The will to finish something, to not leave it incomplete, to refrain from giving up is what hard work and perseverance are all about. It is this type of mindset from which ordinary people achieve extraordinary results.

The best way to plan out your strategy for accomplishing your resolution is to make short term plans. When walking down a stairway, you don’t jump the entire thing; otherwise you’ll probably break a hip or a leg. Instead you take one step at a time. This is a similar scenario. Begin by making weekly goals and monthly goals. The weekly goals will allow you to make small but significant strides in your progress and the monthly goals will summarize what you had to accomplish in those past four weeks. The monthly goals will act as a check-up system, which will make sure that you remain on track and do not fall behind with completing your weekly goals.

Patience is also something that takes time to accomplish and needs to be practiced by steps. The biggest problem with Resolutions is that you don’t see the result for a while (depending on your resolution). What you do see is progress and it is very crucial that you remind yourself of your goal and how it will affect your life in a positive way after you will accomplish it. These self-encouragements will allow you to continue your hard work and eventually persevere.

The main thing to remember is that you have everything to gain and nothing to lose from this. By accomplishing your resolution, you will prove to people and most importantly yourself that you are capable of achieving any goals that you set out in front of yourself. You will know that you possess the qualities of planning, patience and the will to persevere. There is nothing more satisfying than accomplishing a goal that you have set out for yourself. You will feel a great sense of pride, achievement and dignity. At the end of the year you can look back at what you have achieved and rejoice. With this accomplishment you can now feel confident to set out other goals and know that you have the necessary qualities to accomplish anything.


“It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it” – Vince Lombardi.