IT'S graduation season! Congratulations to the graduates of 2015!
For the college graduates, welcome to the world outside the halls of academe! It’s a dog-eat-dog world out here as some would say. But in most cases, it’s just the world being real. Nothing fancy schmancy about it.
So, this week I have a few suggestions what to get for yourself as a gift after crawling through college.
Cloud Storage
If you’re not using any cloud storage until now, you should be. Moreso if you’re using smartphones or tablets. It will save your behind in more ways than one especially if you have critical work files. Imagine yourself saving those files to a USB drive and minutes before your crucial presentation, those USB drives suddenly don’t work. What do you do? That’s where cloud storage can literally save you and your career.
If you have a Google account, you already have Google Drive. Use that. If you don’t have a Dropbox account yet, get one already. Use that. Those are the top two options I’d recommend because I use them myself and have never failed me. Oh, they both have apps that you can download to your devices so you can have access to your files 24/7.
Notebook and Pen
Yes, the good ol’ notebook & pen combo. Keep it stashed in your bag. It will be an indispensable pair of tools to keep up with your ever-creative mind. Let’s face it, there are a lot of times that an idea of slew of ideas come to mind that you just have to record. Unfortunately, our electronic devices can’t catch up to how fast our brains process these things. The closest things that can are our hands paired with a good writing pen and a notebook to write on.
Look for those quirky notebook designs that speak of your personality. It can be a lined-page notebook or a blank-page notebook. It doesn’t matter. What matters more here is that it’s an analog solution to keeping up with your active mind.
A Good Book
Get yourself a book. Not an eBook. A book! A physical book with real paper bound together with that definitive smell of a new book when you first open it. I recommend a non-fiction book; something to help you grow; something to help you develop your inner strengths; something on leadership perhaps.
A book never runs out of batteries and it never needs a cellular or wi-fi signal to be accessed. It just needs to be brought out of your bag and the pages turned. Simple. Glorious. Exhilarating.
In the end, whatever it is that you’ll get for yourself as a gift, use it as a tool to help yourself. Don’t let it be what dictates how you work or how you solve problems. Just because your USB drive failed on you doesn’t mean you can’t make your presentation. Be creative. Be spontaneous.
Life is like a box of chocolates. You’ll never know what you’ll get.
Congratulations again graduates! May your journey be filled with everything that life has to offer and may these mold you into the person you are meant to be.