5 things I wish I'd known 30 years ago

The end of the academic year, and thousands of young people are thinking that this is it - it's finally time for life to start. I wish someone had told me this all those years ago:

1. All that learning was all well and good, but knowing myself was more important. Take time to explore your values and your goals, and work out what really is important to you. If the career path you set out on doesn’t deliver on what makes you happy, then do something else that does. Pay more attention to what you think and feel than to what others think and feel. Other relationships pass, but you have to live with you for the rest of your life.
2. Tough times pass: ask yourself what you can learn from the experience.
3. Don’t follow the herd! Be willing to take some risks. Have courage, be bold. You don’t have to be liked by everyone.
4. Take some risks every day – you don’t need to risk life and limb, but think what you might achieve if you just did one thing a day that stretched the edge of your comfort zone.
5. Build a strong network, and get some good role models. Look for people who have done the kinds of things you want to do, and work out how they achieved it. If it is possible in the world, it’s possible for you!