10 Pieces Of Advice I'd Give To 18 Year Old Austin

Hey {NAME}, When I was 18 I thought I knew it all. I learned a ton over the 15 years that followed. Here are 10 pieces of career advice I wish I could give my 18 year old self: 1. If the subjects you cover in school aren’t exciting to you, find ways to get involved in things that are. Take courses and read books on topics you love. Find communities online. Don’t be limited by a curriculum, get out and explore — that’s how you figure out what you want to do! 2. Get in the habit of having a side project. Take something that genuinely interests you and find ways to apply it to the real world. Start an instagram page for your photos, build a website, create and share your music on Soundcloud, try to freelance on Upwork, etc. These look AMAZING on resumes and can lead to some great side income. 3. Reach out to anyone and everyone — aim big! CEOs, entrepreneurs, alumni, etc. Who inspires you? That .edu address is magic, people will go out of their way to help students. That magic tends to disappear when you enter the real world. Take advantage of it while you can! Send one email to someone new every single day. 4. Understand that failure is part of the process. No successful person hit it right on the first try. They all failed many, many times beforehand. The earlier you begin taking action, failing, and learning? The faster you’ll accelerate your career. 5. Only take advice from people who already have what you want. Parents, friends, and teachers have your best interests at heart. But they typically won't understand your goals. If you want to win, find people who have already achieved the specific goals you have for yourself. 6. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Need a job? Let people know. Deserve a raise? Ask your manager. Want a promotion? Tell the higher ups. While results play a big role in success, they're not enough on their own. You need to be vocal and advocate for what you want. 7. Experience is worth more than money early on. The more experience you get up front, the higher your earning potential down the road. Optimize for learning in your 20s. Optimize for salary in your 30s. Optimize for assets in your 40s and beyond. 8. Aim to be the most helpful person in the room. Most people want to be the smartest person in the room. That's not helping anyone. The more you give to others, the more social capital you have in those relationships. I've found that when I give freely, it comes back 10x. 9. Work hard, but not at the expense of missing your life. You need to work hard to win. But "working hard" doesn't mean: - Burning out - Getting <5 hours / sleep - Missing time with friends - Etc. You can always ramp up work. You can't get back precious experiences. 10. Your are the CEO of your career and your life. Work is a business transaction. Sure, it's amazing to love what you do. But don't let those feelings cloud the fact that companies will always do what's in their best interest. You should feel empowered to do what's in yours. Be well, Austin PS - Ready to finally land the job you deserve? [Click here to book a free Clarity Call with our team]() to learn more about how we help our clients land value-aligned jobs in an average of 3.5 months with a $43,000+ raise. [Cultivated Culture] Land a job you love without applying online. How Can I Help You? [Build A Resume](=) [Score Your Resume]() [1:1 Career Coaching](=) [LinkedIn Analyzer]( [Twitter]() [Twitter]() [Podcast](=) [Twitter]( You are receiving this email because you subscribed to get more career-related content on [cultivatedculture.com](). If you do not want to receive these emails or other communications you can easily remove yourself from our email list by [clicking this link to Unsubscribe](.                              Â