Some Extraordinary Graduation Advice
Congratulations.
You have graduated. And now you will embark on the exciting journey of the rest of your life.
That journey that Aaron Sorkin described to Syracuse University’s Class of 2012 as ‘a combination of life being unpredictable and you being super dumb’.
But don’t worry. That’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.
You have spent the majority of your life thus far building an education. You chose Oakfields College because you wanted an ‘Extraordinary Education’. And now it is time to build an extraordinary life.
So here is a bit of extraordinary advice as you take this next step on your journey.
But because we always do things differently at Oakfields College, we’ve decided not to just give you one piece of graduation advice from one point of view. After all, each of your lives are different.
So, we’ve taken the best advice from some of the world’s most memorable graduation speeches, and turned it into one speech just for you.
Dear Oakfields College Graduate,
Find what you love.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
Fear is going to be a player in life, but you get to decide how much.
It is impossible to live without failing at something - unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
Make your bed to perfection.
If you make your bed in the morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
But also remember to break rules sometimes.
Leave the world more interesting for your being here.
Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, and never follow someone else’s path – unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path, then by all means you should follow that.
Don’t seek happiness.
Keep busy and aim to make someone else happy and you might find you get some as a side effect.
Be a doer, not just a dreamer.
You just have to keep moving forward. You just have to keep doing something, seizing the next opportunity, staying open to trying something new.
It doesn't have to fit your vision of the perfect job or the perfect life.
Do all the other things, the ambitious things– travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers – but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.
Life is an improvisation.
You have no idea what’s going to happen next and you are mostly just making things up as you go along.
It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess.
It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications.
Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. That’s the lesson. And that lesson alone will save you a lot of grief.
A failure often does not have to be a failure at all. However, you have to be ready for it. The difference between triumph and defeat, you’ll find, isn’t about willingness to take risks - it’s about mastery of rescue.
You will never truly know yourself or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that’s okay.
For many of you who maybe don’t have it all figured out, it’s okay.
Enjoy the process of your search without succumbing to the pressure of the result.
And remember.
Make your bed.
Good luck.
Now go and do something extraordinary for this world.
Our Alumni are really going places!
