31

Ten years ago, I finished my bachelor’s degree in psychology. Back then, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I felt that I am smart, though. Yet if the current-me assessed past-me, I would definitely smack past-me in the head for being all high and mighty despite being actually pretty stupid. My grades wasn’t bad. But it took more than just good grades to find your purpose in life. I had a limited perspective that makes me compare myself with other people based on academic achievements.

So I didn’t actually know what to with my life back then. I wanted to be an academician — definitely missed the target there.

Then I thought I wanted to be a psychologist. A Clinical Psychologist. I chose Clinical Psychology simply because I liked the challenge. Way back then, majoring in Clinical Psychology is harder than other major. I did reached that target, but I wanted to make more impact than just helping individuals.

So I moved to organizations. I’ve been in several until now. On some, I made impacts; on others, not so much. Apparently there are some moments where I can shine and there some that I’m just not good at it. Lots of stuff learned from this process though.

So. Ten years after graduating college. What did I learn from back then until now?

• Embrace your strengths. Everybody has a virtue, and mine is definitely the love of learning. I really liked figuring out new stuffs. It has helped me immensely whenever I’m faced with new responsibilities. You can use any kinds of framework; I’m using the one that Martin Seligman developed years ago and I think it suits me!
• Pick your battle. You just can’t win it all alone. If you think the challenge is too big, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you think your weak spot is weighing you too much on this fight, get somebody to support that part.
• Organize your priorities. Like, really organize it. Without setting priorities and learning to say no, you will never have the time to do the things that you’re really good at and the things that you actually like. (I still need improvement on this part; I can’t even publish this post on time!)
• Be really good at reading, writing, and speaking skills. As you’re moving farther into your career, technical skills alone can be complimented by other specialists and you really need those 3 basic skills to do an excellent job.
• Take good care of your health. I’m just one year in, but being in your 30s is definitely different than being in your 20s. Get out and exercise (also need to remind myself over and over again for this part!).

What stuffs did you think or feel about when you reached your 30s?

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