Getting Good at Life Takes Work – Tips from a Gen Y Consultant

Today we bring you a guest post from a new kid on the Gen Y blogging block. He touches upon a topic that I know many of us have come to realize – getting good at life takes work!

Alex is the author of A Digital Mentor and has spent the past 5 years blogging about topics around career development, millennials, technology, leadership and business. He is passionate about career development as well as mentoring and guiding others in their own personal development.

 Alex currently works as a management consultant. He specializes in helping companies and organizations make use of emerging technologies such as social media, mobility and analytics and helping companies implement technology to transform people and organizations, and also is a Researcher in the fields of social media and workforce development. In addition to his primary job, Alex also serves as a Career Development Coach for many young adults, and is currently taking additional clients. Alex is originally from Upstate New York and now resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

Getting Good at Life Takes Work – Tips from a Gen Y Consultant

This week marks my 18 month anniversary working as a consultant for a management consulting firm. While I was fortunate to have a number of different job offers, I ultimately decided on consulting because of my interest in solving business problems, analyzing data and working with teams/people. So far, I’ve had a great experience and have learned so much in 18 months but I’d be lying if I said it was easy or always enjoyable.  There definitely have been moments; working till the wee hours in the morning, losing a draft of a presentation and having to start over from scratch, and various other challenges that come with your first real job, but I have enjoyed the projects I’ve worked on and the people I worked with. I feel like I’ll never stop learning, from others and from these experiences as a consultant.

As a consultant, my job is to help my clients solve problems they face by asking questions, gathering information and walking with them while providing guidance to navigate complex issues. One of the things that I like about my company is that in addition to serving as trusted advisors to our clients, we have a culture where we serve as advisors to each other. In my time, I’ve learned quite a few things from some of my colleagues and mentors, and while I claim to be no expert, in truest consulting fashion I’d like to share a few pieces of information that I’ve picked up along the way that might help you navigate your workplace, career, or life.

Getting good at life takes work – Okay, I realize this sounds a little funny, but let me explain. For those of you who graduated from college, remember first semester of freshman year? Remember how it was a little difficult at first to figure things out, to get the hang of things, to build a schedule? But remember when it all started clicking? It began clicking because after a few weeks/months of persistence and repetition you put it together. Life after college is very similar. You need to “work” at life. Invest the time and effort to think about how you want your week to look outside of work. Work for most of us is a significant portion of our week but not the only thing to happen. How will you spend the other hours you aren’t working? What kinds of things will you do? Who do you want to see? How can what you do outside of work make you better with what you do when you are at work? These aren’t questions that can be solved right away. I started asking myself these questions about 3 months into my job and while I’ve come to some better answers I still find myself re-asking and re-answering them.  Through this process/cycle of persistence, execution and then reflection you’ll become more comfortable with how you want to spend your time and make the most out of your life.

Build your Squad – As John Lennon once said, “I get by with a little help from my friends.” We’re all better people because of those around us, and just as you’ve surrounded yourself with people growing up and in college you want to continue to do the same. Make sure to think about friends you want to keep in touch with and continue to have fun with, but also think about reaching to people who you can learn and grow from because of their experiences and wisdom. These can be former professors/administrators, co-workers, adults, etc. If it helps, literally write down all the people on your “Squad” and why they are important to you and your development.

Be known for something by your colleagues – Well, not just anything, preferably something that puts you in a favorable light – Maybe you’re the party planner, talk to your boss about helping with the next one. Maybe you are the social media guru (or at least have ninja like Facebook/Twitter stalking skills) help out with the company Twitter account and teaching others how they can use social media to enhance their learning. This will help you build and cement your identity amongst your peers, so make it count!

Help at least 1 person every day – Ideally, you’ll want to help more than one, but not only will others appreciate your kindness, but it might make you feel pretty good.

If your friend doesn’t call back, call again – One of the great things about college is that most of your closest friends live within a pretty close proximity to where you live (if not with you.) While there will be people who you remain close to in proximity, friend dynamics can change once you graduate. People get busy with their own lives and don’t always have the time they’d wish to dedicate to keeping in touch with friends. It can be very easy to get frustrated, but even if some friends aren’t as responsive, keep reaching out. It can be easy to get frustrated, bitter or even mad ( I know it is for me) but I’m confident that they will eventually respond back and in most cases appreciate your willingness to take the initiative.

As the late Steve Jobs said in his address to Stanford University in 2005, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards,” and after looking back on the past year and a half I proudly share these thoughts with you. Above all, the most important thing I believe is that as much as I have learned there is much more that I have to learn. Like a true consultant, I don’t think I’ll ever quite stop learning.