In Commencement

To the High School Graduates of 2010 -

The last four years were likely the best or worst of your life. Either way, the next four will most assuredly take on the latter of aforementioned distinctions.

It is time for you to truly establish your identity as a person. You can wake up when you want to, watch what you want to, accept advice from who you want to, study at your own pace, fall in love and you might even drink a beer for the first time.

Where ever the next four years takes you, know that this last chapter of your life is closed. Put a bow around it and savor it for what it is. You will not have a close knit group for the extended period of time that you have experienced living in this town with the people you sit next to right now. You now will lead a transient life...people will walk into and out of your life with bolder objectives and shorter attention spans. Be adaptable, step out of your comfort zone, embrace change, & innovate.

We live in a time where any idea you have can make you a fortune. You need to decide what that idea is, if you are willing to dedicate your life to it, and if happiness is the end game. You have the opportunity at this moment to decide who you want to be and to make it happen. Two things to consider:

• Will you be truly happy in pursuit of your chosen career?
• Never make money the driving force behind that decision!

Do not choose a career path predicated on who your parents want you to be. Do not follow your boyfriend to college for the sake of familiarity. Do not choose a course of study because you got high marks in those classes in high school.

Be Yourself! Take the next four years to find yourself and who you truly are:

• Take Walks
• Find the Extended message in everything you read
• Make new friends
• Remember your old pals
• Know that there is a song to lift or transcend any mood
• Always heed the advice of your elders
• Always be willing to listen when a friend is in peril
• Prioritize based on your passion
• Bow to No One
• Allow No One to stick a finger in your face

There are no hall monitors in college, you can bring your lap top to class with you and you set your own study hours. You make the rules now...accept this as a privilege and act accordingly.

Know that you will have more than enough time to study, so study first. Know that the love you have now will endure if it is strong enough and if it does not the world will not end.

When you leave class, the movie house or the gym with a feeling that you could fly...that is what you should pursue. If you want a career bad enough, you can make it happen. There will come a time when you must consider your spouse and children in every decision you make...that time is not now...you are bound by nothing.

Allow no one to distract you from what is genuinely important, dedicate yourself with purpose to what you truly love. Now is the time to pursue what you genuinely love...you have the opportunity to try and fail several times. Don't try to be someone you are not, find your horse on this merry-go-round and set out to make the world a better place; every day.

I leave you with this: Every morning you will go through a series of exercises that can distract you back to bed or propel you into your day. Choose to focus on the positive aspects. You are used to achievement based on a four year cycle...your career will be 10 times longer:

• Focus on the positive
• Be willing to try and fail
• Learn from your mistakes
• Be propelled by what you are good at
• Don't accept advice from anyone who does not have your best interest at heart

Go now and find love, develop a path for your life, establish your rules and do not compromise your pursuit of happiness!

Allow yourself to believe you can change the world for the better and you will!

Don't Forget to Remember

Dave

references: http://twitter.com/davidkovacovich