Page 6 - Class of 2020

Perseverence
A message for the CEGE Graduating Class of Spring 2020 from Distinguished Guest Speaker
Jon Chiglo (BCE 1997), Chief Operating Officer WSB
Congratulations on the years of hard work and success. I wish I could be there to congratulate each of you per-
sonally. You have achieved a life dream for you, and I am sure, also for your parents: graduating from a prestigious university and beginning to set your own course and direction for your life.
Three months ago, we had visions of a much different world. Now we see social distancing, pandemic, stay at home orders, and even virtu- al graduation ceremonies.
I am a believer that the glass is always half full and what we are seeing now is only temporary. Your future is still very bright! It may be a little delayed or you may need to take a slightly different path to achieve your goals, but your life goals from three months ago are still very achievable.
It is a well-established fact that success is not achieved overnight. There is no such thing as get-rich-fast successes in the world. The road to success is slow and quite precarious at times. It takes hard work and time for success to build up, and you are solely responsible for your progress. This is why perseverance is so critical for success.
To help you persevere through what is impacting us all right now and to succeed long-term, here are a few thoughts.
FOCUS.
1. Keep your goal visible at all times. Plant the seeds of success in your mind and focus your attention on things that will help you achieve your goal. Realize that achieving that goal can take many paths, so don’t settle on just one. Stay flexible and nimble and work hard to see all the opportunities that are available for you. Be willing to lend a hand and do whatever needs to be done.
2. Worry wrecks your focus. Everyone worries. The trick is to minimize the time between your first worried thought and your first action to attack it. Remember, much of your worry is based on concerns in your mind, not reality. Mark Twain once said, “I’ve suffered a great many catastrophes in my life. Most of them never happened.”
3. Tame your technology or it will become your master. In today’s highly connected world, you have to define boundaries around your time and attention. Just because your cell phone notifies you of a new message doesn’t mean you have to shift your focus to attend to it. Constant accessibility can blur your focus.