This past week my daughter graduated from New York University. I had the privilege of sitting through two commencement ceremonies, one for the entire university and the other for the Tisch School of the Arts. While some people dread such events, I look forward to the inspirational speeches. They may be meant to inspire the graduates and to offer them advice and encouragement, but they provide me with these things as well.
Common Message
Whether I listened to a student, the dean of one of the NYU schools, the president of the university, or one of the prestigious guest speakers, such as Janet Yellin or Martin Scorsese, the message in the speeches remained the same:
- Pursue your passion.
- Find your purpose.
- Be of service.
- Tenacity helps you succeed.
- Guard your creativity.
- Disappointment makes you stronger.
- Failure is part of the journey to success.
- Express your uniqueness even when authority figures or experts tell you to conform.
- Believe in yourself.
- Don’t let fear stop you.
- You have value.
I took something away from each speech.
We All Need Encouragement
Graduates are just getting started, but sometimes I need encouragement to keep moving forward. Maybe you feel the same way.
It’s difficult to continue striving toward my goals, or even to simply keep working day in and day out at a job. Inspirational and motivational speeches remind me of why I should do so—of why I want to do so.
We all need encouragement. We all need someone to remind us that we have something important to offer to the world, that we are special, that we are good enough, and that we can do it—and should.
That’s why the human potential industry thrives. So many people—me included—turn to the speakers, teachers and experts who can push us to fulfill our potential, tell us we have worth and show us how to give our gifts to the world. When I have no commencement speeches to listen to, I can always find a personal growth podcast, MP3 or CD to keep me inspired, motivated and feeling good about myself and my work.
Graduate Again
I looked at the thousands of graduates at these commencement ceremonies, and tried to remember how I felt at that time of my life. Leaving the relative safety of university life was exciting and scary at the same time. My whole life lay before me, but I had no idea how it would unfold.
Maybe the way to regain that sense of excitement and inspiration even when we’ve been out in the “real” world for a number of (or many) years, or when we’ve been toiling away at jobs or our goals for a long time, is to imagine we are starting from scratch.
Visualize yourself just setting out on your career—as if you have just left your university commencement ceremony. With your whole life ahead of you, what would you do? Where would you go? How would you build your career?
Allow this visualization to inform your actions—and to inspire them. What do you discover? Are you doing what you want to be doing? Are you fulfilling your potential and your purpose? If not, how can you make the necessary changes so you do.
Almost 33 years after I graduated from college, I can say that to a large degree I am doing what I set out to do. But not totally…
The commencement speeches remind me how I need to tweak what I’m doing. They encourage and inspire me. I feel excited to keep moving forward.
Each day I try to imagine I’m just beginning, like my daughter and all the other graduates. After all, life is a moment-by-moment opportunity to take inspired action toward the creation of your life. In each moment we graduate, we commence, to the next moment.
photo credit: Chandler Abraham via photopin cc
