I tend to look at issues I struggle with today and wonder what life would be like now had “present me” been able to tell “little Brittany” a few essential things, or if she would have just taken seriously some things others told her. These are the top ten, of probably one hundred pieces of advice I would say to her.
Dear little Brittany,
Make your LinkedIn account!
Start building rapport with colleagues and industry leaders through a professional online presence. I have never been a fan of time-consuming social media account set-up, but the few minutes it would have taken to get things started would have more than paid themselves back by now just in how many connections I could have made! I find myself playing catch-up with this now because I was a little slower to start!
Network, network, network!
A handshake goes a long way in the workplace! You are going to meet and collaborate with people daily, so you might as well establish an appropriate workplace relationship with them. You never know what effect you may have on those individuals, and you never know what opportunities they may be able to talk you up for down the road!
Stop spending your money on garbage!!
Just because you have money and do not need the money does not mean you should be blowing it on snacks and video games. Throw that “disposable income” into savings. There is no better reward than a nice financial cushion to fall back on when “life happens”!
Start volunteering!
Despite what sitcoms may have taught you, you will not be able to walk into every job interview and impress them with your winning smile. Getting that hands-on, industry experience is the only sure way you will get the job that you want!
Stop missing so much school!
You may have had a reason for missing some days of high school, but now you are forever making up for the scholarship you did not get and could have gotten. Push through and persevere — do not let today’s issues negatively affect your circumstances five years from now!
Make college classes work!
Speedway is not worth anything the delay in receiving your degree! It is respectable and understandable that you’d want to become financially stable and independent, but even if you can only juggle one class, on top of 50 sad and depressing work hours, keep working towards that degree! Every credit hour counts!
Forgive your father now!!!
Every day I spent mad at my father for the years of pain he put his family through was a day I could have shared with him before he passed away. I felt justified in my anger towards him at the time; but now, because you wanted to have your little “rightful” attitude, you have wasted some precious final moments with the only father you’ll ever have.
Apply for scholarships!
My two-year college hiatus was mostly due to finances! With no grants, no independent status, and a job paying too well to yield even the slightest financial award, I could not afford to take classes during this time. Had you applied for the smallest of scholarships, they probably could have provided you a couple more semesters at a community college during that two-year “break.”
Leave Dollar General!
This will be the first and last time you get screwed overworking a lousy, lowly retail job, by a lazy manager running a nepotistic business! Nothing is keeping you at this job that will not exist at another. Take your experience as an assistant store manager and hit the road!
Do not allow yourself to get so discouraged!
It is way too early in your career for you to be letting failures or losses discourage you! There is a lot more disappointment left to go, and you cannot allow it to determine what you will and will not accomplish in this life! Just because someone looks to be more established or more qualified than you, does not mean you should not reach for every dream you have dreamed! Sink your nails into those dreams and claw your way to the top! Do not stop until you are where you want to be! The only person you can count on to get you there, is you, fool!
Let me clarify that I am in the best place I have ever been in. I never imagined that, at 22, I could have the things that I have going for me. I am more than blessed, and more than determined to keep the momentum going. Today’s no is tomorrow’s yes, and I will continue to live by this mindset every day. Most importantly, if I could only tell “little Brittany” one thing right now, it would be to love herself enough to create the life she wants for herself. No matter what you have gone through before, what mistakes you have made in the past, or what mistakes your efforts may cause in the future, always fight for the best life you could have!
Sincerely with love,