Word.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard

From this week's Corner Office column with Guy Kawasaki:

Q. What’s your best career advice for somebody who’s just graduating from college?

A. Most people who graduate from college think they have to make a perfect choice. Is it Goldman Sachs? Is it Google? Is it Apple? They think that their first job is going to determine their career, if not their life.

Looking back, that’s absolutely incorrect. By definition you cannot make a mistake in your first job other than becoming a consultant or an investment banker.

...

You can’t make a mistake as a college graduate.

Not suprisingly, I am a big fan of this advice, which actually isn't advisory so much as reassuring, though I'm unsure why he singles out consulting and investment banking as mistake first jobs. Anyway, I'm definitely in the "everything happens for a reason"/"live and learn" camp. Not to mention that I don't think one's career or career path should define one's life in the first place.

I'm also fascinated by career-changers and people who go back to school as "non-traditional" students (why they are sometimes called "adult learners" is beyond me, since most people in college are adults). It's so, so easy to be complacent about your place in life, and people like that who are brave (and/or desperate) enough to make changes so that they can be more fulfilled or provide more for their families are really inspiring. These are the people who truly understand what it means to make a change.

My landlady, for example, is in her late 30's, raising three children, and a full-time college student. She's incredible. When I told my landlady I didn't know how she does it, she replied, "It's what I have to do. I have to look out for myself." She proceeded to tell me that her husband, who is older and semi-retired, used to own some successful businesses, but it's been difficult for him to find work, especially since he never graduated from college. So while it may not be her first choice to have to go back and get a degree and a job and support her family, she's doing it.

Michael Gates Gill was in somewhat of a similar situation - was laid off late in life after a successful career in advertising, needed a job to have health insurance and help support his young son - and ended up working for Starbucks and writing a bestseller. The book wasn't a terrific read, rather fluffy and simple, but I liked the messages in it: it's never too late to find a passion; learn to roll with the punches; do your best at whatever job you have.

I hope one day I will have words of wisdom to dispense to others, too. I'm sure the path to wisdom involves more than a little bumping and bruising, but I'll live. Bring it on, world.