Here's me and some of my closest friends, the friends I made my first year in college. We met up for a reunion tour of good old Snow College.

It’s true.  I’ve never been a dreamer. I’ve always been a practical person.  Since I was a child making decisions has been a long process. I always thought a long way off into the future and thought, “how will this affect me?”

When I was a child while others were developing talents like playing the piano or singing like an angel, being academically gifted or learning back handsprings, my only talent was practicality.   As a child practicality isn’t a “fun” talent or one that you can really perform.  As an adult, I’ve really come to appreciate it.

With that background, I’ll share this article I recently read in the Wall Street Journal.  I know I sound really smart when I say I read stuff in the Wall Street Journal.  I’m actually NOT smart enough to enjoy reading the WSJ on a regular basis, but…I WAS smart enough to pick a man who DOES.  He makes recommendations about specific articles he thinks I’d enjoy. I read those and sound smart talking about them. How’s that for practicality?

This article is themed around graduation.  It’s that time of year.  The article is 10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You.

I thought the whole article was brilliant.  Now, I am not a dreamer.  This article might just kill your dreams, so know that before you begin reading.  But, if you want a practical, real, happy life, the following the advice might go a long way to leading you down that path. Click now to read (it’s quick).

Here’s my favorite parts. (I skipped the paragraphs that didn’t speak to me)

1.  Friendship and human contact IS important.  I sure hope this is true, because I’m fairly certain I came pretty close to failing most of my hard classes my first two years in college. But…I had a LOT of FUN.  I always thought that should count for something.  The people I spent my first two years in college with are STILL some of my dearest friends.

Here we are all grown up. What happened 15 years ago feels more like 15 weeks ago.

In the long run, I still graduated from college despite my terrible grades the first two years.  I don’t spend a lot of time these days regretting my bad grades.  I do however spend a lot of time on the phone with my dear friends.

2.  Authoring this blog has been an adventure in frustration, self-doubt, failure and some success. It’s nice to know that failure and frustration is a part of life and in the end a part of success.  It gives me a reason to keep writing even if I’m fairly certain that my only regular readers are my mom and Aunt Tammy.

4.  I told you earlier that I was a practical person from a very early age.   I identified my weaknesses as a child and always looked for a person smarter than me with opposite strengths.  Enter Steve Sokol.  My life has been a breeze ever since I met him. I highly recommend this to anyone seeking a person to marry.

5.  What?  Just enjoy yourself a bit more?  Yeah, I can get behind that.

7.  Parents coddling their kids well into their mid-20’s or 30’s is a bad idea.  It doesn’t make for strong adults.  Kids should fly to coop as soon as they are able.  It’s what nature intended.

9.  I have been living my life for the last three weeks in a REALLY high stress way.  I don’t like it but it’s easy to do if you’re not conscious of it.  In the end, none of my high stress items mean anything if I get hit by a bus tomorrow.  Today I slowed things down.  I played cats with my four-year-old in the front yard for a half hour.  I believe she would remember that for a long time if I got hit by a bus tomorrow.  It’s moments that matter most.

10.  This is my favorite paragraph.  Maybe it’s because my talents have never been all that extraordinary when compared to the talents of some of my friends.  But as a person, I think I’ve put in a pretty SOLID performance.  Being great IS over-rated.  Too much pressure.  Shoot for solid.

So there you have it.  It’s not magic and rainbows, but it’s a good way to live.

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