This transcript was generated from YouTube captions and lightly edited for readability. Speaker labels may be unavailable, and transcription errors may remain.
Intro#
Hello and welcome to Graduate Theory today is a very special episode of Graduate Theory if you’ve been a listener for a while you’ll remember that at the end of every episode I asked the guests what’s some advice that they’d give people starting their career today today’s episode is a compilation of these things we’ve gone back into the.
Archives found the first half of the Graduate Theory episodes so from episode 1 up to episode 24 I’ve gone back and found all these sections where the guest is giving some advice on what advice they would give to someone that’s about to finish or finish a university or start their career and that is what today’s episode is so it.
Jumps around a fair bit but I think there is some seriously good advice in this episode if you haven’t already please consider subscribing to The Graduate Theory newsletter it’s the first link in the description you get an email straight to your inbox every single week with a bit of a reminder of the gradual 3 episode.
My thoughts and my takeaways from each episode as well so thanks again for listening and please enjoy.
1 - Joe Wehbe#
The last question for you today Geo is if you were going to graduate University again or maybe even start my University you can choose uh let’s do one piece of advice yeah wow is like the question we asked a lot around the book is what advice you’d give your 18 year old self and I think I.
Can say the same thing to both the version of me starting University and the vision of me ending University make the most of it don’t settle for any less yeah I like that because even leaving like whenever is coming next and that’s a big focus on what you have again make the most of it.
Whatever you can access and start with make the most of it and if it was at University I didn’t make the most of it like I wish I could go back not really because I learned a lot which was applied making me more focused in life after and make the most of it I think.
3 - Darren Fleming#
That’s it good so the last question I’ve got for you Darren is wait we’ve got the audience of graduates here so one piece of advice that you would give to someone or if you were graduating University this year or one lesson that you would give to someone else graduating and wear a mask get vaccinated.
As silly as that sound it’s actually a lot deeper so what we’ve had since World War II and it’s been driven a lot by the US is the power of the individual okay all right my right I can do this I’m going to be the top blah blah blah the idea of covert and climate change these are all.
Existential crisis that affect the whole world now I can put a mask on and I can get vaccinated and I can go like hippie don’t drive anything but I’m not going to stop covert by myself and I’m not going to change climate change by myself we need as a society to work together.
So the people who are going lockdowns are bad it’s not affecting me my business is going down the toilet you’ve got to change they’re missing the tectonic shift that is going on in society that is we are moving from a collectivist sorry an individualistic Society back to a collective Society where we rely on each other.
There’s an Ethiopian saying a traditional Ethiopian saying if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together and that’s where we are now that the mask and the vaccination is the metaphor for what we need to do this is all about coming together the knowledge that you have is great it’s common but.
It’s great your experience that you have from your life that have brought you here today is uncommon and needs to be shared it’s your knowledge that needs to be shared if I get vaccinated if for no other reason.
4 - Scott McKeon#
I built one last question for you Scott and that is if you were going to start a university again given all your experiences now with where you are you’re with your startup and your experiences all through University what is one one lesson that you’d give yourself if you were starting University again um at the start of next year.
Join the constant student honestly that is what I would say that looked at it without an absolute doubt that is what I would say that’s why that’s why Liam and Joey and I are working on it that’s why that’s why it exists there’s so much that you can learn right now if.
Like universities being delivered online no the internet is imagine the Imagine for learning on the internet without the kind of University constraint of having to do subjects and coursework how about learning within you know 12 12 weeks or within one or two years within one year not only do you learn one year’s worth of information and content.
But you can actually then learn and earn and you can earn money for things that you’re learning and kind of really level up in multiple ways and same thing it’s the ecosystem the ecosystem is something that is it’s your platform to build upon so all of the things that are kind of benefited from are kind of Consolidated.
Within the constant student and that will still continue to grow over the years it’s the same thing get involved ask questions I think if people who are looking for the answers to be given to them rather than think of yourself like an adventurer you’ve got a you’ve got to discover it you’ve got to look through.
And determine things you’ve got to ask you they’re going to try things people will always like people are always happy to help they’re always you know happy to guide you along the path and try things so if you have that mentality it doesn’t really matter what you do yeah because you’re doing things.
And you’ll find the right answer.
5 - Oscar Trimboli#
Yeah so Oscar I’ve got one last question for you today and that is we’ve spoken about graduates a little bit now but if you were graduating again and you’ve had such a fantastic career you’ve worked with so many organizations if you were going to graduate again let’s say this year you’re going to start your career.
Next year what is one one piece of advice that you would give yourself I would give myself two pieces of advice number one I would give back to my first year lecturers at University and go back to them and say can I do a guest lecture based on my workplace experience and how.
I’ve applied what I’ve learned from you as a thank you to my lecturers and the second thing I would do is I would take more time to listen to Executive assistance and administrators in the organization they have the glue that holds the organization together they make everything run smoothly and if you’re in their dad books they can slow.
Everything down for you as well so whether it’s a receptionist whether it’s an executive assistant or any kind of administrator these people are the glue that holds the organization together I’d invest more time in getting to know them.
6 - Ishan Galapathy#
And on a similar way to that question there’s one question that I’ll ask all the guests which is if you weren’t uh let’s say your ishan’s back in 1998 finishing University going to start his career what is what’s some advice um that you give yourself funny you should say that oh funny you should ask.
That James because I went to New South Wales University right as you said in in the introduction and I was living in randwick and I remember distinctively the very first day I arrived in Australia and I arrived in randwick and I remember on that Saturday afternoon in February 1994 walking the Belmore Street or Belmore.
Road I think or Frederick which is the main main street I had all these questions going through my head in terms of simple less how do I get to the uni and you know where’s my faculty how do I find my faculty to all the way from what’s my first job going to be who will.
I marry where will I be all of that and recently my niece who is now studying engineering at the same faculty I had the pleasure of helping her to settle in in her apartment so my wife and I we’ve helped her to you know hire a flat and you know moved in and set up and as.
Part of it this evening I had to basically go and grab something to eat so obviously you know we’re all familiar with the area you know we know the area the back of the hands and I quickly rushed out and went to Belmore Road and trying to find a cafe or something um to get something to eat.
And in that moment it’s I could feel myself the ishan who was in 94 on that road it was as if I was watching this movie I was watching myself in third person walking the road for the first time and looking into the windows and I could feel the questions I had in.
My head at the time and I wanted to you know tell that ishan saying hey it’s gonna be okay it’s gonna be okay and it’s gonna be an enjoyable ride um is what I saw myself telling the 20 year old version of me and at the same time I also saw the 70 year old.
Ishan who had also been who had come there to tell the 40-something year old is John saying hey was you’ve now got questions about where to next you know will I be able to make a difference like I want to is the world going to be okay you know will we travel again and all that stuff.
And again I heard the voice of the 70 year old ishan saying hey it’s gonna be okay and it’s going to be wonderful.
7 - Lidia Ranieri#
I’ve got one last question for you today Lydia and that is what question that I ask every guest and it is if you were graduating University again starting in the workforce right now or this year what are some tips uh some advice that you would give yourself the advice would be that you really do need to.
Take the pressure of yourself from any expectation of having an answer today of what you need to do or should do because inevitably you will probably start out doing something and find yourself even you know 15 20 years down the track doing something completely different so you don’t have to have it all figured.
Out I think it’s important to also understand your own kind of true nature in other words here people pursue that I’m just gonna do what feels like what I’m interested in and that’s a great place to start and others are a little bit more strategic well I’m going to go over here because.
These fields have utterly kind of leading seals in terms of you know economy and you know they pay well and all those things so all I would say is wherever you’re being lit in your thinking process it’s an indication of what indicator of what you value and what’s important to you and so you need to listen to that.
And as long as you’re not only doing things because you think you’re going to get some Financial award and you know it’s just follow what it is that you know in a voice is telling you what to do because it will reach something else that leads to something else that leads to something else that.
Leads to something else and storm really there’s no wrong turn because you’re accumulating knowledge and experience the wrong turn is when you do something that has no interest no appeal does not light you up does not in any way stimulate you that’s your long term and you need to be thinking about doing something else you.
Know I had that wrong turn very quickly in my careers my first job out of University I was working also and thought that I was going to pursue a career in law and within three months was going home and I had that feeling of it was a debt Theory and you I can’t do this.
It when I kind of told friends and family that I was you know you know aborting that mission they thought I was absolutely mad it was like can’t he’d finish the law degree got a great job with a great family you can’t do that and I’m like no no I definitely am doing that is not the.
Right direction for me and because I knew I went home and I answered myself the question if I don’t want the partner’s jaw not in any kind of you know Machiavellian sense but just in an aspirational context if I don’t want the partners jaw then I’ve got nothing to aim for here.
I can process steps don’t make sense to me so I need to go find something else that you know and for differentiator walls B the dynamism the different every day the unscripted way to work didn’t exist for me in that in that role and it existed in what I went on to do.
And so it’s that really I mean have to be straw for broken no it could have been anything that allowed me to have that unscripted more Dynamic oops like working.
8 - Andrew Akib#
Yeah that’s really cool well I’ve got one more question for you Andrew this is a question that I ask all the guests and that is from your career where you are now let’s say you’re going back you’ve just finished University and you’re about to start your first job what advice would you would you give yourself now after.
All the experiences that you’ve had um yeah this is yeah okay I would tell myself that the things that you’re thinking about doing don’t just kick them you know don’t just kick the can down the road and keep thinking about doing it there’s something that you are thinking about doing just do it probably would have started.
Maslow a couple of years earlier had I not been not not that I’d wouldn’t have been scanned but I should have just made the decision earlier but this is the case with a lot of things I yeah I think if I can can sum it up without kind of pointing too specific experiences just the thing that you’re.
Thinking about just started earlier because further down the track when you do reflect on that you’ll think to yourself you wasted time wait and that’s okay that’s gonna happen that there’s no harm in just starting a new thing if that’s what we want to do because you’re either going to start it.
Or you’re not so you might as well start it the two years or the four years that the degree is going to take is going to pass anyway so you might as well do it or you’re you’re going to you’re going to progress in your career and kind of go on and get bored anyway so you might as.
Well start the new thing now like it’s all totally okay so yeah if you’re thinking about doing something don’t.
9 - Aiden and Eric#
Wait what what is some advice that you would give someone starting their first job whether it’s could be to do with mental health and that’s obviously an important piece but is there anything that you would even if it was yourself when you were starting your first job what advice would you give yourself.
There maybe we’ll start with you Aid by something I would give I think back going back to my conversation about startups and corporates I’d probably say you know take the time to research all the options available to you and if it made sense go start you know join a startup or even better start a startup.
You’re young you’ve got time and it might work out really well for you the second thing you more specifically do to do with the mental health conversation is make sure that you’re taking the time to preserve your own mental health and one of the best ways of doing that is you know setting boundaries so if you think.
Work is too much set a clear boundary to say this is overstepping the bounds that I’m comfortable with and therefore I’m not going to do it or communicate them clearly to other people around you as well so they know what you can do and what you can’t do and go from there and.
I think the Third Kind of adhesive advice I would give and this is probably more General is when you start a new job as a graduate find out all the people that are going to be in your team and take every single person out for coffee once and make that a goal in the first.
Month I don’t care how many people it is it could be five it could be ten it could be twenty might be a bit expensive but just do it take every single one of the mouth for coffee and get to know them a little bit so ask him what makes him tick ask them you know what their kind.
Of work experience is what they do a work in specifically and you know just get to know them and you’ll tend to find that hey they’re grateful because you know free coffee who doesn’t love that and B they get to know you on a personal level and because of that it’s a lot.
Easier to get to grips with the team get to grips to work and you’ll have those actual connections formed within the best one whereas you know a lot of people tend to be quite introverted don’t really talk to anyone for you know a few weeks and you just need to break out of your shell a little bit to do.
That yeah yeah for sure Eric what about you any advice to you um you would give someone yeah absolutely so when I first or when I was supposed to graduate I have a mentor at the time one that I sort out like I went to a speech and we started meeting regularly and this is some advice that he gave me.
That I took two years to act on uh which is to build something create a visible Identity or content or something that you can be proud of outside for your raw whatever it happens to be and that does a lot of things right it gives you confidence it requires you to build the skills required to.
Build whatever you want to build it’s about a good thing and it means that you are visible so if and that’s something that we can now point to every week we both have our own online identities that speak for us and that’s something that we’re going to in the book as well but.
If I had started it earlier it would be so much better it would be so much so much more valuable that’s definitely something that I would better tell anyone who’s early on in their career or even still in unity build something you could point to and be like I built that it’s a demonstration of what I could do.
Just to add on to that James you’ve pretty much done that hit that on the nail right yeah on the head I should say yeah with a Graduate Theory right there you go shining examples yeah that’s a great too Derek no certainly I totally agree with both of you and I think.
That’s really profound advice because yeah Eric were you saying about building like almost your personal brand I think is so important especially in today’s day and age where you can have things on the internet that are just there someone having to meet you or spend time with you they can see what you’re about and.
They can see the things that you’ve created I think it’s so important and right with you Aiden I think it’s a great advice too to connect with your team and even through the wider organization age you know really starting that networking is something that you do proactively and you know really creating a network you know as.
Much as you can especially when you’re early on I think it’s really really important too so if I could add on to what was what Aiden was saying before I think it’s important to acknowledge the caveats that come with setting boundaries especially when you’re starting out you want to be high achieving you want to make a good.
Oppression like we said before and it can be hard to say no or know how to say no and that can be that’s a difficult thing to navigate so you take the lot on but I will say that the first few years or maybe your 20s or your career or the time is the time.
Where you get to test your bandwidth to see how much work can you do how much can you take on before you affiliate yourself starting to burn out and then you stay in that range.
10 - James Fricker#
What is one tip you would give to new graduates your I believe that’s your final question yeah but what’s one tip you would give to new graduates today I think yeah I think yeah I think the main thing is be intentional about what you’re doing so and really that’s something that.
Yeah I think it’s so important it’s like let’s say it go like one o’clock 40 year what would make this year a successful year for you know and what things are you going to do this year that would be good like even if it’s coming to networking like be intentional about who you’re.
Networking with and make that something that you do to get involved participate really like life’s an adventure so you’ve got to go out and make stuff yourself like no one’s you know it’s coming back to even what we’re talking about before like No One’s Gonna Come and like make your experience great for.
You like no one’s gonna sit there and be like okay you know what this is the perfect opportunity for you here you go no like here’s like the perfect thing like you have to go and create that stuff yourself so you’ve got to go and meet the people you want to meet with.
They’re not going to come to you’ve got to go and seek opportunities that you want to do because no one’s going to come and bring them to you’ve got to really take life with both hands and go out and embrace embrace the world and go out and seek things yourself.
I think that is the one lesson that you know that I try to apply and that I think uh that would be minus until you graduate as well it’s like yeah the lesson Adventure is a journey it’s it’s fantastic but you’ve got to get in there and to get make the most.
Out of it get in the arena and go out and enjoy and really take life with both hands I think that is fundamental and something that will not only be useful through your graduate experience but it’s something that’s a fundamental principle I think through your entire life is to go out and just tackle stuff head on and get.
Involved I don’t just sit on the sidelines and mock people or just watch people that are doing cool stuff like get in there and do cool stuff yourself they get in there and meet people and participate and do stuff I think that is that’s something that I’ve grown into doing this yet and I think.
It’s something that I would recommend and to everyone yeah.
11 - Haynes D’Souza#
Well I’ve got one last question for you Hayes we’ve covered so much in this in this conversation a lot of value here but I want to ask one more and it’s a question I ask all the guests and it’s about if you were I graduated maybe let’s say starting next year you’re about to start your grad role what is.
Some advice or maybe one piece of advice that you would give yourself oh well that is a good question I would say think broad just just I would I’ll tell myself that it’s important to keep my own personal interests and hobbies and not lose them when going to a grad sort of role I think the process of.
Getting a grad job I think is well documented and there’s enough resources out there but I think what we don’t talk about is the importance of keeping your own personality in your your own Hobbies as you join your your sort of big company right I think it’s so easy and I’ve seen this so many times when you’re.
You go through University you’ve got all these hobbies and interests and passions and then you enter the workforce and then it’s all consuming right it’s known to fight but it’s not really nine to five right it depends on what role you work for or and what company you work for but you’ll be doing long hours.
You’ll you’ll find that you’ll sometimes working weekends and missed birthdays and dinners but why looking back actually my thing is you want to keep your passions and interests and hobbies with you for as long as you can and don’t let your work life basically take over your whole life because it’s easy to do that there is always work there.
Will always be work but you know if you’re into sport or gym or dancing or teaching or mentoring or have a business or whatever whatever it is that gives you that joy and satisfaction in your life you need to keep that because you’ll realize that there are times when work isn’t great and whether you’ve had.
A tough week or it’s you’re really stressed you do rely on your personal hobbies and interests to basically pick you up from that for a lot of people it’s their relationships with their partner or your faith or working out in the gym the crazier work gets the more important those parts of your life.
Become to keep you grounded and keep you sane if you do get to a point where your work is all-encompassing and there’s nothing else you’ll burn up very quickly you’ll also look back and realize that all you’ve done is work I think we’ve got nothing else to show for it so my my.
Advice sir for all these optimistic 21 year old grads is keep your hobbies keep your interests keep your passions what and have work to be around that yeah as opposed to just having work be the only thing that you have in life it also makes you so much more interesting knowledgeable and in the more senior you.
Go I feel like new relationships become super important in the workplace and you’ll draw on those experiences traveling or having a business or working out you’ll draw on those parts of your life in order to build those relationships in the workplace the more senior you get so that’s that’s something I’d probably recommend.
12 - Adam Ashton#
And then one question that I want to finish with today Adam we’ve spoken about your great experience and the podcasts and things like that and I wanted to take it back to some some advice that you would give some graduates that are listening they might be their first year in the workplace knowing that all the things that you.
Know now and all the experiences you’ve gone through what is one or perhaps you’ve got multiple pieces of advice for people that are in that situation hmm I before we started I had three like three in mind that I want to mention um but I’m going to change it maybe we’ll have to do like in a year or two.
We’ll have to do a second app and I’ll give those those other three that I was going to give but maybe it’s changed by then but I’m actually going to change it on the Fly uh and combine the first answer I gave and the last answer I gave I’m talking about the whole grad experience I went through.
The first time where I saw it as a game in a competition and I thought I was in it so I had to do it and I had to beat everybody else and I this was just the path that everyone’s taking so okay I’m going to jump on this path and try.
And do it better than everybody else because I have to because that’s what everybody does um that was the wrong approach obviously the right approach is that the want to approach that we kind of spoke about when it comes to reading like if you actually genuinely want to do it and you actually have a genuine curiosity about.
It and you see there are benefits um you’re reading books and you see that there are things that you can learn and apply to whatever it is you’re doing work career business relationships friendships whatever it is then you’re actually going to enjoy reading so if I actually flipped my perspective on work and saw it as something that I wanted to.
Do and saw it as something where I can develop skills something where I can learn new things something where I can build some bit of a reputation or a bit of a brand or build a network or if I can if I actually saw all those benefits and it became something I wanted to do.
Then it would have been a much better experience for me and I’m sure I’m sure right now if I was a grad I would be so much better as a grad than I was five years ago as a grad that’s for sure um I think the advice is not to quit your grad job and and start a business or.
Whatever it is that you might be thinking I think it’s realizing that you can do both you can have the full-time job plus stuff on the side and they’re not competing with each other they can actually complement each other and just placing more value I guess on on how I saw the grad experience rather than just.
Dismissing it as I’m doing all this stuff on the side so this stuff is less important yeah cool that’s great to hear.
14 - Ingrid Messner#
And I’ve got one last question for you today Ingrid and that is about people starting their career you know people starting their career in 2022 is there one piece of advice or you know what advice would you give to young people starting their career in 2022 it was in 2022 or I feel with you.
To start your career now and because what what’s what’s happening it could be actually an advantage but usually starting a career is like a ride of Passage Point where you would have done certain things before that because of covet haven’t happened so what might be good to find some area where you really focus on further.
Developing yourself your self-awareness and that could be in all sorts of ways it could be with meditation it could be with journaling it could be yoga it could be just conversations with other people so that you become more and more aware of who you are and what you want because the biggest thing will be in 2022 and most.
Likely next year as well that you come in and everything is so uncertain and complex so it’s really challenging to say this is actually my vision or longer term thing it might be enough to say I would like to learn these five things in the next year and these are my passions and this is my.
Purpose so how bring do I bring this together and find the right organization to work in this area and then during the year take it step by step and sort of check in is it still what you wanted to do or is it that suddenly other people have pushed you into something where actually.
In the beginning uh you didn’t see it coming but then over time it sneaked in and so you lose a little bit yourself and so it’s good to sort of when while you’re learning about yourself to put in like regular checkpoints let’s say every month or quarter where you check in is this really what I.
Want and what’s the next step for it and then take it maybe in shorter bursts there are some people most likely finishing now have a long-term vision and goal and that’s great as long as they can hold it Loosely and say I might not get there in a straight line but I might take many detours but I.
Still hold it there like a beacon like a lighthouse that I can sort of follow but I might not go straight I might go and do some detours and maybe while you’re on a detour you notice um actually this is much better and then that’s where the chicken pod comes in where you notice.
Actually now I know enough about myself I have the courage to say no I’m actually changing my goal and that’s fine so that’s how I would approach it this like long term visions and goals they are good but only if you hold them quite lightly yeah having said that you will find a few.
People who do that and they’re brilliant for the majority I think it serves them better and their emotional and mental health if they said it’s okay to change and not know it’s okay to really not know and then take a break explore what’s around you decide something try it like an experiment and then learn.
Something from it and to the next step and that’s okay it’s it’s you don’t have to know everything impossible.
15 - Dan Brockwell#
I do have one more question for you and that is around you know people that are graduating are going into jobs at the start of this year that it’s 2022 they’re starting out in their career and what is some advice that you would give someone starting their career this year oh I mean yeah regardless of whether.
They’re going to a startup or a corporate I would say optimize for learning like and when I say optimize for learning optimize for the learning that you want if you like so not just like oh okay here’s the structured program at like you know your company but like find out the things.
That you want to learn and your your priority should be like how do I learn those things as quickly as possible you know how can I practice them how can I teach them how can I engage with them like maybe you want to become a really good public speaker maybe you want to.
Become a really good sales person a really good developer but I think like being very intentional about like the way you spend your time and it’s not every second of the day you always need breaks but like you know at work or maybe it’s like side projects yeah just just really thinking intentionally about.
Like what like what am I learning and how fast am I learning it having a clear framework and plan there I think probably the other piece is as best you can try and find other people who care about similar things to you find other people as in like I mean that’s a.
Two-part one right number one and this is an ongoing question in life but start exploring like what are what are the problems you’d want to work on like 10 plus years in your career like one of the things you’re like wow that’s crazy like maybe it’s climate change or like nuclear warfare or you know artificial.
Intelligence there’s all these cool areas and it takes time you know reading exploring but I think one of the best things you can do is just talking to other people like co-learning is such a beautiful thing so find people with good values who have really high aptitude who care about similar problems and are.
Doing something about it and just try and learn from them teach each other like I look back at Uni and you know there are several friends like even that I have to this day and we’ve actually gone down quite different parts friends who went super deep into cryptocurrency friends who went very deep into the.
Law space friends who went into video game design friends who are doing you know their phds but kind of a Common Thread there is kind of like yeah I think like a really strong core set of values that’s shared and just a really really strong curiosity and intentionality to the way they live.
Their lives and so I think like just yeah finding people that you resonate with like the people you surround yourself with will just have a huge huge outsize impact on how your career progresses one more thing before I forget start creating content Now find the things you care about and just start creating newsletter Tick Tock social.
Media posts art whatever it may be it doesn’t even matter but when you create content you will find people who care about things similar to you um and that is just going to be a superpower for years and years to come.
16 - Michael Gill#
I’ve got one more question for Gilly to finish off the interview today and that is a lot of this podcasts around careers are around grads and it’s around people starting their career and so I want to ask you what advice would you give to people that are starting their career again or start at the starting their.
Career in 2022. so James when do you start your career in my head the notion is that when you sort of get your first full-time job oh so your tertiary education has nothing to do with your career yeah I think it does yeah it definitely does so what’s your question I think how about when they’re entering.
The workforce um if you read 18 and Lost Peter are you familiar with 18 and Lost James you are aren’t you yeah I’d even lost was a book written by a number of the constant students which has as a sub theme what we know at 26 or 27 that we wish we had known at 18.
Because the knowledge experience values skills that you take into the decision making for a university course is very much less than what you have at 26. when you have experienced one of the most important formation periods or life so the first lesson I think James to take out of that is keeping an open mind and an open heart.
Is much more than just the glitzy saying of the moment it’s one of life’s most likely survival skills so Point number one is you haven’t wasted your education you haven’t wasted bursary stuff but keep your heart and your mind open as to how you’re going against that always and be prepared to question yourself.
Always don’t feel better still ashamed if you’re tempted towards thinking I’ve made a mistake no you haven’t made a mistake it’s like Michael in first year law you’re just learning and if you do that and you start understanding what turns on your ashes or your dumb lights coming from what you’re picking up which really seems to be the.
Authentic you as well doing it for yourself rather than your employer or your parents or other people or things that have an expectation of you your ability to break away from what do you feel from the bombardment of social media you know all the stuff you’re reading which is think forcing you in a particular.
Direction somewhere along the way you’ll get will also kick in I’m not quite sure about that because it’s not my field of expertise but I say to everyone who wants to listen these days you have three very important ways of knowing and that’s your Edge out gotta keep them all in Balance you’re.
Going to listen to all of them and then it’s just walking down the path of life understanding that it’s all the process yes and it’s all about the journey it’s not so much about destination so what yeah it’s cliche but it’s completion stay in the present that gets hijacked by in three years.
Time 101 years 0.5 years time I aim to be a senior associate at the LA guidance they’re all right to have out but it shouldn’t be totally pre-opted Melody of your plants I’ve got a lovely guy of my age uh retired land surveyor Jewish uh you know when people in our presence start talking about Miami Danny.
Always says if you want it here to go and laugh plan I love it yeah welcome the surprises yeah embrace the surprises knowing that I didn’t think that was gonna happen wow where did that bit of gift come from I thought I end up meeting a person like that at a night up at 11 30 PM in the.
Evening and this is a person who may have a contribution to make to buy current curiosity about bike repair or something else where does this stuff come from well myself I would say pedial adverse yeah life is more than a single career life is about switching on the totality of your unique gift this.
All of them not played many of them on the show a lot of heat fights in the background no no that’s that’s yeah and that’s an awful lot to digest and I could give you a lot of other stuff about words like generosity but quickly you know if you’re in a business circumstance where there are.
Clients involved generous to it not because you want to have a reputation of some thought but because that people want generosity a neighbors yeah we all know that because we’ve all experienced it so that’s not hard is it when we know how we feel about people who will be genuinely generous in other words.
They’re not looking for anything in return they just do it because they want to do something for it and that turns on something within us which is exactly the science turns on within all other people in similar circles sure there can be some significance you can hear people say it why would they have done that.
They must think there’s something in it for there we’re going to try and rise above that because authentic people don’t eat them I understand what unconditional generosity gives that and you can feel it exactly the same way so in that work relationship Somalia generosity has exactly the same impact as in a personal relationship scenario.
If you’re in a personal relationship with somebody you know it might be somebody that you’re dating early stages you do something for that you may have to do it unknowingly that just means so much to them in terms of something generous might be waiting to take them out and you tidy up the kitchen.
Rather than sitting there watching that one of the Adelaide footy teams playing football on their televisions it’s just all of that sort of stuff the whole of life skills are exactly the same as the business life skills professional life skills personalized why or should only buy this and it’s not three of you it’s not one.
That puts on the tide that comes business another one who’s sort of looks on the basketball outfit becomes a basketball and then obviously also hear them being taking somebody out on a date he just saw an enclosure for all those skills we don’t we don’t put on outfits photos.
17 - Aaron Ngan#
I’m curious what would be some advice or some some really key principles that you would you would give to people going through this transition into that first like full-time role perfect the number one piece of advice I would give is share what you’re up to share it with your family share it with.
Your friends share it with your network just tell people hey this is what I want to be doing this is the type of work this is the what excites me about share that with as many people as possible and inside of sharing it with people things are going to happen right like people.
Are going to be like oh hey have you heard about this job opportunity have you heard about this volunteering opportunity have you thought about joining this hackathon have you seen this thing people who are in that same sort of Journey are going towards something else might be like hey I’m also doing this.
Let’s catch up let’s connect let’s collaborate and you might learn from them you might contribute to them and inside of sharing what you’re up to and what you’re out to accomplish which could be like an early stage of careers like hey I really want to be an amazing product manager I really want to.
Be an amazing systems engineer I really want to be an amazing uh junior HR manager I really want to be an amazing anything insert my career here like you can start to kind of get hey what excites me about this and it doesn’t have to be this big aspirational amazing sort of thing.
Right it doesn’t have to be like hey I’m joining I’m joining Tesla to create the brand new Next like powered smart home battery motor motorcycle whatever it is right it doesn’t have to be this incredible that’s going to go to Mars by the way it’s not it doesn’t have to be that.
All right you could have a look at your early stage career I’d be like okay look like what I’m out to what I’m committed to is like hey I’m committed to really discovering the world of Finance so I can make a difference to the everyday people who use company X’s services right and as you share that as you start.
To explore that not really your two things will happen right like you will start to deepen your awareness of like hey what am I actually wanting to do so that’ll naturally happen you deepen it the more conversations you have the deeper it will get for you the more that you explain it or share with people.
They’re like oh like that’s interesting tell me about that the more you’ll it’ll be real for you and the more that your environment can kind of start to pull for hey James is the person who does that podcast of course I’m gonna like if I if someone comes up to me of course I’m going to recommend.
Do it will just make sense because you’re sharing what you’re up to is the number one thing that influences your environment that could be a post that could be in conversations like hey what have you been doing or what have you been up to or how’s it going in Australia is the equivalent of.
Saying hello but please don’t actually tell me how you’re actually feeling or what you’re doing the correct response actually is like yeah nothing much how about you but instead when you get asked that question hey what have you been up to you can actually talk about that you can just share hey like I recorded a podcast.
In the week the podcast guests actually flipped it on me started asking me questions for a little bit it was actually pretty cool and out of that look what I’m about to create for this podcast is like I’m really going to think about how do I create more and more value for people because I’m.
Committed that the listeners of Graduate Theory podcasts and that the community that we’re building really experiences having the best possible resources and the best preparation and the support and guidance that they need so that they can take the action in their lives to take their careers to the next step so that’s what I’ve been doing this.
Weekend so that could be I just made that up for you for example yeah yeah people were like wow tell me about that yeah then it builds and then it builds yeah yeah I’ll share what you’re up to share what you’re up to.
18 - Warwick Donaldson#
But I’ve got one more question for you and it’s something that I ask all the guests and that is what advice would you give someone starting their career in 2022 build your network it may seem hard and a daunting task at the start and it is but it’s a marathon not a race and.
There are plenty of beautiful amazing people out there that want to talk to you and that want to share their experiences with you and don’t be afraid to ask them the worst they can say is in the whole literally that’s the worst that they can say and the best that they can say is hell yeah let’s go and have a.
Coffee and then who knows what’s going to happen once that happens so you know it’s it’s a isometric risk and it’s an amazing thing and you really should be doing that and I understand that not everyone’s an extrovert and so it’s more difficult for others than it is for some of us.
But try to fight it or try to find ways that it can work for you know maybe it’s online maybe it’s like pinging someone and asking some questions you know it doesn’t always have to be face to face yeah face to face is great to build relationships but you know it doesn’t always have to be.
There there are other ways there’s always there’s always another way to solve a problem so try to innovate do some reading and figure it out but yeah I think those networks those relationship what will hold you strong throughout your career and your life and it’s I mean that your job doesn’t own you know when you leave.
You take that with you and that becomes some of your Capital that you can use to improve your life and improve your performance and your role and just have it you know have a nice alive it’s really good so.
19 - Penny Talalak#
Yeah but I’ve got one more question for you today Patty and that’s a question I ask all the guests and it’s if you are starting your career finishing the year you’re starting your first job again this year is there anything any advice that you would give yourself if you were restarting at your career.
Today oh that is a hard one because I love my job like I’m doing really well I never have to go back and start it over again I would be panicking because the competition is way high all right like covert hit so many people out of jobs so many great designers out there.
I think like if I didn’t get a job offer because like going through a job application again is exhausting going to graduate program I think for for sure I will not apply for graduate program I’m just done I’m done right now I’ll probably look for something more more entry-level personally and even though like the.
Bench is so high I’ll probably start a business if I’m gonna start my career again I’ll start a business and I’ll stop applying like I’ll apply but I wouldn’t be upset if I don’t get it because I’ll have my own things to do yeah yeah I think that’s cool and it’s certainly you know you’ve shown that.
There are plenty of opportunities out there for side hustles and four extra things to do if you if you could look for them and be interested in what problems need solving in the world so I think that’s that’s great advice and certainly I think we’re in the we’re in the period now where people are applying.
The grad roles for starting the next year so I think that’s great advice in a very timely advice as well so oh it’s stressful for them like I don’t want to go through that ever again like job application is way stressful than a breakup I’m sorry it’s so bad I just quote that yeah what.
Application rejection is way more stressful than a guy rejected absolutely and that’s it that’s funny because it hurts right like every day you’re checking your email you didn’t get a job you didn’t get a job like your life sucks and you’re surrounded by people who are making money and flushing their suit in barangaroo yeah so that’s.
One and I never get to experience that because it didn’t work in barangaroo but I’ve been like creating a job for yourself will help you get a job yeah and a lot of people don’t really like this yeah certainly I think that’s great advice and yeah absolutely I think doing those side hustles and things like that.
So I’ve been to anyone so if you can pay attention to the problems in the world and help people solve them then I think yeah you’d be setting yourself up in the right way absolutely and also know people I think like I wish if I went back more I wish I knew more people even.
Though I know a lot of people I just I just want to know more people yeah like no more smart talented people yeah that is within Circle you need people like.
20 - Adam Geha#
That in your life and I’ve got one last question for you uh Adam just to finish off and that is you know lot of the listeners here are younger they’re perhaps starting their careers or in the first few years of their career and I wonder if there’s any advice or any lessons that you would you know even.
Thinking back to your own experience at that time any uh advice that you would give yourself if you were in in those in that position again yeah I think dream dream big be bold it takes just as much effort to achieve um big big goals as it does small ones so might as well dream big.
Um and make sure you uh believe in yourself so I’m going to write a series of um micro blogs on self-belief because it’s becoming apparent to me that um a number of people that are beginning on the entrepreneurial Journey um they they just need to increase their self-belief and self-belief means no matter what.
Happens no matter what task or challenge I’m up to the task I’m equal to and out to the task this type of self-worth this type of self-belief um and is absolutely indispensable to success and then I would just say go out and find a mentor or two you know I have two or three at any given time and I.
Mentor about six or seven because I believe the world is a big circle so you when you’re receiving you need to give and then the universe keeps giving you more and more mentors if you’re mentoring others and um so I would definitely say um you know believe in yourself dream big and surround yourself by one.
Or two wise mentors um and go for walks in the park with them and put the problems of the week in front of them and ask them what they think you should do and if you do that often enough you’ll gain a lot of wisdom.
21 - Nimarta Verma#
I’ve got one last question for you no matter and that’s a question that I ask all the guests that come on the show and it’s almost a flip of the previous collection but you know like part of it graduate theories you know career advice and how can young people really grow their career and.
We’ve had some great advice from you tonight but yeah what’s some advice that you would give to young people who are starting their career today yeah I think really the biggest thing is like it’s not life and death and I’ll elaborate on that it’s like it’s not the end of the world like your.
First career is not the career it doesn’t need to be the career you end up with for the rest of your life and you can change your mind and you can change your mind two thousand times and you can switch accessories and switch careers and say or be 10 years into a career go I’m.
Really bored of that I’m gonna go do do a degree do a different degree and go to different routes I think there’s a lot of stress I see about you know 18 19 20 year olds trying to map out the rest of their lives you just can’t you don’t need to you don’t need to know.
What you’re going to be doing for the rest of your life just you just need to know what’s the next day right then and there do that next thing if it fulfills you and you love it great keep at it if it doesn’t then you know don’t don’t settle go back and go okay well that doesn’t fulfill me.
What what else should I be doing and don’t be afraid to change and switch and change your mind yeah one question I ask I know where it.
22 - Josh Farr#
Was out of time we’ll try and squeeze it in but something I ask all the guests is you know what’s some advice that you’d give yourself if you were restarting your career at the start of this year oh that’s a good one what if I started against myself I was restarting my career.
Maybe preempting probably that which I just said that would probably be it like think about the next five years who do you want to help a practical way to do that is I think if someone’s lost try to answer this question I think if you’re lost and I’m sure I’m stealing this from.
Someone this is not an original idea but the point of a career is to end unnecessary suffering so if you’re not sure what you want to do try to end unnecessary suffering what does that mean find some suffering find someone that’s struggling find something that shouldn’t be suffering like where we have a.
Resourcefulness problem not a resource problem you know like I booked on I’m telling you before we started recording I booked an Airbnb today and when I logged on the home page of Airbnb said you know can we help that house 200 000 um Ukrainian refugees or something like obviously there’s more than that but.
That was the number that was up there I’m pretty sure it was 200 000. and so there’s a bunch of people on Airbnb who have a vacant place in different parts of the world who can say Yes actually I could put a family up for two weeks I could actually go without two weeks of Airbnb income and I could.
Put someone up for two weeks or two months or two years or whatever it is and I could I could do this and it’s a small sacrifice my family’s not going to starve I could do this so lots of people listening might not have a spare Airbnb to put up but they might have a spare.
Weekend they might have a couple of hours they might have 50 bucks a month that they can donate so the question would be my advice to a younger self would be find a problem that you care about find some suffering as weird as that sounds try to find something with some leverage where it doesn’t need to happen where.
There is a solution where there are great organizations or great people and start getting involved in that space like change your proximity the thing that changed everything for me was proximity it’s the hardest advice that I give to my younger self but it’s really hard to say to people is like I think.
You need to go to a place in the world where there are real problems and spend some time there now there are real problems in your neighborhood right domestic abuse all that sort of stuff but it’s not like you’re just going to go knocking around on the neighbor’s house like is there any suffering.
Happening in here like it’s kind of it’s not the same you know so it’s kind of hidden so it’s either tap into what’s happening in the local environment or go somewhere be in an environment where it smacks you like for me I needed that smack of like hey there are real problems out here and you.
Can do something about that and it’s not overly like palatable but it was really practical and that gap between what I thought I wanted and what I needed became really apparent so that would probably be my advice be around somewhere where there’s a real challenge be around people who are actually solving it like I was just in.
In saw this crisis and I didn’t see anyone solving it’d be really depressing but then I went to the refugee border crossing and I saw local families Bakers people who had next to nothing giving away everything like closing their business and giving away all the bread to refugees who they didn’t know who.
Were from another country who didn’t even have the same religion like they’re some of the religions blatantly said these guys are the enemy and they’re like yeah but we’re gonna give our entire lives to helping them I was like that’s religion you know that’s what it’s about and it’s just things like that being around that being around.
People who are so selfless so generous that just changed my perspective so I think a version of that rant is what.
23 - Josh Reyes#
I’d hope to tell my younger self you know one more question to ask you today around you know your career and the things you’ve done and we’ve had a really interesting chat today but people starting their career this year do you have any advice for graduates as they go into this world of you know crypto.
Remote work all these kind of new trends that are coming up yeah I think I’ll probably push for crypto I think it’s very much the future the amount of talent rushing into this industry is simply like unfathomable uh coming from like a web 2 world from my full-time job just over a year ago and.
Now to like back really be back into it and working and hiring and experimenting in this industry it’s crazy when me and Marcus actually started the company we said like this actually might be our last chance to be early and really to Define what our vision for what we want this industry um and this space to look like and that.
It’s actually the same thing for joining an early stage startup I had very like strong beliefs on how what work should be like and how you should run a team um from like reading books and talking to friends um and what what company culture should be like and I think I still have those.
Strong beliefs about work but also like what I think the future of Web3 and crypto and the internet should be and I think if people do have these like morals and beliefs and if you want to apply them to this industry yeah it sounds maybe a bit crazy but I actually think it’s the last time these.
Next three to five years will be the time when you can actually make an impact and actually spread your morals um and beliefs at a scale um where they’re impactful totally like millions and billions of people.
24 - Mel Kettle#
Oh yeah that um that’s going to be my last question and it’s something that I that like you’ve sort of already answered in some ways but something I ask all the guests at the end of the show is you know what advice would you give to someone that’s just starting out in their career like um you know given.
All that you know now if you had to do it so let’s go one back the clock and restart things yeah what’s your advice that you’d give you’d give yourself listen to your instincts because they are very rarely wrong that would be my number one advice if if your gut instinct is saying this.
Isn’t quite right ask questions and listen to it yeah I think that’s important too I think yeah you know you’ve got the mind and the Heart yeah powerful things you’ve got to listen to both that mind Gap connection there’s so much research now that shows there’s such a close link between what happens.
In our gut and what happens in our brain and there’s some really good books none of which I can remember the names of um but there’s so much research around that like the last 20 years has just shown this really strong connection between the mind and the brain and the gut and so.
If you’re interested do some research and find out more but I really believe Listen to Your Instinct we’ve all got an instinct it’s like that sixth sense so you know pay attention particularly if it you know you might call it the Spidey sensors on it or the you know the tingles on the back of your.
Neck or your spidey sensors but in my experience they’re not usually wrong not thanks again for listening to Graduate Theory please consider subscribing to The Graduate Theory newsletter it’s the first link in the description you get an email straight to your inbox every single week with a summary and my takeaways from that.
Week’s episode thanks again have a great week and we’ll see you next time.