On Making Good Decisions

The older we get, the more decisions we have to make for ourselves, which can often lead to anxiety and stress. From choosing our outfits in the morning, to what to have for lunch, to whether to move to another city to take a new job, to whether or not to send that text. The constant daily decisions we have to make, from the trivial to the life-changing, can quickly become exhausting. In this article, the author writes about healthy decision making habits such as making big decisions in the mornings, not basing decisions on our emotions, and sleeping on our decision rather than rushing into them. It also highlights the importance of physical exercise on good decision making as the release of endorphins helps the mind return to mental clarity after a stressful situation. It also offers an insightful quote by Mark Twain, "good decisions come from experience, but experience comes from making bad decisions." World Economic Forum.

On Getting Your First Paycheck

Once you’ve taken the leap from student to working professional, you’ll no doubt realize just how much is changing in your life. After getting your first paycheck, you now have the power to decide what you do with that money, and what kind of spending/saving habits you want to develop. In this piece, author Kristin Wong offers advice based on lived experience on the realities of navigating one’s career and personal finance (ie: what’s my credit score?), how much to put into savings (learn about the 50-30-20 budgeting strategy popularized by Elizabeth Warren), and how to succeed at your first job. It also includes personal anecdotes from readers on dating, changing careers, and interview disasters, all with useful lessons to be learned from. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s ok to make them. But the quicker you learn from them, the better off you’ll be. New York Times.

On the Importance of Your 20s

This one comes from one of our recent grads and Experience Lab teammates, Stella Cai...

"You’re so young, you’ve got so much time to figure things out." As a 23-year-old fresh out of college and just starting my career, I hear this on a daily basis. For a while, I took the words as a source of comfort as I wondered: what do I REALLY want to do with my life? Do I want to move to another city or country? Am I investing my time and energy in the right friends and romantic partners? In this TED Talk, Clinical psychologist Meg Jay emphasizes that contrary to what older people may tell you, your twenties IS "THE defining decade of adulthood." It is only in your twenties that you will have the most power and agency to shape the adult that you will grow into. So, "Whatever it is you want to change about yourself, now is the time to change it." Don’t wait. Take action now. Highlights or Full talk on TED.