The Perfect First Job Doesn’t Exist

By: Alexandra Levit, reprinted with permission from Alexandra Levit Blog

I will never forget how lost I felt the summer after my graduation from college, and in the years since, I’ve spoken to countless 20-somethings who feel pressured to find their true calling immediately and build a successful career in a particular field before their 25th birthdays.

If there’s one piece of advice I have on this topic, it’s that your career is a journey, not a destination. The perfect first job doesn’t exist, so look at your first post-college positions as temporary stops on your career path instead of permanent ones. There is no way you can reasonably predict how you will develop as a person and a professional in the next 10 or 20 years – why try?

A sensible approach is to insist on a single, intelligent first step and look for a job that will allow you to acquire as many transferable skills (project management, sales, marketing, client relations, etc.) as possible so that you will be well-prepared for any career you decide to pursue in the future.

Also, don’t be in such a rush to be promoted in that first job — you have a long career life ahead of you to shoulder the heavy burden of being on top and thus responsible for employees’ livelihoods and the company’s bottom line. Enjoy this time in which you don’t have to worry about anyone but yourself and are getting paid to learn everything you can. Explore any and all opportunities that interest you and make an effort to meet people from all walks of life, and eventually you’ll hit upon something that feels right.

~ Alexandra Levit, 20 Something Career Expert, Campus Calm

The Power of 10 Minutes

By Nancy Barry
Speaker and Author of When Reality Hits: What Employers Want Recent College Graduates to Know

We live in a crazy world, rushing from one thing to the next to the next. People often say they just don’t have enough time to get everything done. As a result, they are stressed out. Everyone gets the same amount of time each day – 1440 minutes. What if you could carve out 10 minutes every day to do something that would make your life less stressful?

What if you got up 10 minutes earlier in the morning, so you weren’t rushed to get to work or school? What if you took 10 minutes at the end of the day to organize your desk, so when got to the office the next day you would feel refreshed and ready to start your day?

Make a list of how you could spend 10 minutes every day to help ease the stress in your life. Never underestimate the power of 10 minutes.

~ Nancy Barry, Recent College Graduate Expert, Campus Calm

Students living in the Buffalo, New York area: I’m speaking at ECC’s South and City campuses on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. I’d love to see you there!

I’ll be speaking at ECC’s North Campus on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:00 Noon in the Spring Student Center, Student Lounge.

Click on the poster for further details.

When was the last time someone asked you that question, and actually wanted a true, genuine answer beyond the ever-so-polite, “Fine, good or great.”

That’s what this post is all about. I’ve been reading a lot of leadership books lately—one of the greatest takeaways I’ve embraced is being humble enough to ask others, “What’s going on with you? How can I best serve you?” So, how are you really? Click on the Campus Calm forum here and leave me your honest, authentic response. When we find the courage to self-communicate we self-celebrate and we lead others to do the same.

April is National Stress Awareness Month; what I know about stress is that it can eat you up inside. Developing resilience is a choice I made for myself nine years ago when I was a new college graduate physically sick from years of chronic, unmanaged academic stress. Nine years later, I’m not perfectly resilient, but I’m so much stronger than I ever was before, and consider it great progress in the journey of my life.

What about you, are you resilient? Can you bounce back from life’s setbacks and see opportunity everywhere, even in your failures? Are you equipped with an arsenal of positive coping strategies that uniquely work for you? If you’re struggling, can you ask for help?

So many students contact me to share their stories of unrealistic pressures, academic worries and personal neglect (ie, sleep deprivation, no time for joy, no sense of purpose, and feelings of burnout, depression, apathy and anxiety). When I encourage these stressed-out students to reach out to their campus counseling centers or wellness offices to ask for help, many respond, “Oh, I’m not that bad, I’m ok, I can handle it.” What they seem to want to say is, “I don’t need to see a counselor. I’m not crazy. I’m not that student.”

As someone who visited my college counseling and career centers on a number of occasions, both as a student and a recent college graduate, I have to ask, “Have you ever considered a new perspective?” What if by choosing to not get help–whether it be by talking to a counselor, coach or advisor–you’re denying yourself the opportunity to surpass your current limitations so you can be the best person you can be, and contribute to your campus community the best part of yourself? How’s that for a positive view of counseling!

In honor of National Stress Awareness Month, let’s start a new trend on high school and college campuses nationwide. If you’re struggling emotionally in any way, be a leader and lead yourself to ask for help. Call a friend, talk to a professor, career advisor, or school counselor. Take advantage of the resources that you pay for as part of tuition. If your friend is struggling, be a leader, a positive role model, and walk him or her to your school’s counseling center. Remember, we empower ourselves from within when we choose to practice resilience, then we empower our friends and generations to come to do the same. I cannot think of a better way to lead.

How are you today? Click here and let me know.

Life your vision of a happy, purposeful life,
Maria Pascucci
Founder & President, Campus Calm

Asking for Help
Reprinted with permission from Christine Hassler Blog

I am moving today. To a different house in the same city but as anyone who has moved lately knows, it is super stressful. Yet as I am waiting for the movers to arrive, I am enjoying my tea, grapefruit and writing this update. So how did I manage not to pull an all nighter and carve out time for breakfast? Quite simply: I asked for help.

I have been stressed out emotionally and physically about this move for months now and noticed myself feeling completely overwhelmed. My entire body would tense in anticipation of getting everything sorted, purged, organized and packed. I knew I could not change the fact that I was moving, but could I change how the move was moving me? The answer became clear quickly: yes, by asking for help.

I got over my fear of imposing on friends and family once I thought about how I would feel if a they asked for help. Knowing how stressful moving is, I wouldn’t hesitate for an instant to lend a packing hand. I also reminded myself that my loved ones are grown ups and are fully capable of saying no if they were not available.

So two weeks ago I sent out emails and made calls to friends with the list of things I needed help with. And in a matter of a day, I had an entire schedule and system of people coming over to support me. Not only did I get things done in a timely manner, it was a lot more fun to have friends helping me do it. I even asked one friend to set up all my utilities for me. Something that was incredibly daunting to me when it was on a list of 100 things was easily doable for her.

My encouragement to you today is to think of the things in your life that feel overwhelming and consider if one of the primary reasons you feel so much anxiety is because you are buying into the belief that you are alone or have to do things on your own. You are not - I assure you of that. We live in an interdependent universe but in order to receive help and support, sometimes we have to ask for it (especially those of us who take pride in being self-sufficient).

UPdate the way you are handling a situation by reaching out. Delegate and appreciate the support that comes your way. Because we could all get by a little easier with a little help from our friends.

~ Christine Hassler, 20 Something Crisis Survival Expert, Campus Calm