2020 Commencement Address

My daughter graduated from high school yesterday. It was a huge milestone, and despite the pandemic that has destroyed senior year for millions of kids, she continues to keep a positive attitude, even with all that is going on in our country today.

Last night, we had her 3-closest friends and their families come to our house for a small party and graduation ceremony. I gave a short commencement speech that received praise from not only the parents, but the girls too.

Sadly, we had a technical snafu and the recording didn't happen, but you'll get the idea. Besides, I had a tough time keeping it together towards the end. If you've got a senior and want to share some words of wisdom, feel free to pass this along, use it verbatim at your own party (it's 4 minutes, 42 seconds if you're giving it as a talk), or plagiarize in any way that you want.

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I’ve always wanted to do a commencement address. I just didn’t think that it would be in our backyard.

Moms, dads, siblings, thank you for coming out, braving the Rona, and making time to see your senior graduate.

For the past 18-years, you've raised your daughters, kept them safe, taught them to make smart decisions so that they could enjoy the great times that come with high school graduation. Prom, class trips, senior prank day, senior ditch day, graduation, and then going off to college.  

This is supposed to be a time of joy for you as parents. To be able to step back a bit and watch your daughter take the first steps into adulthood. 

And while it has been stressful for them, I know that it has been a different type of stressful for you.

Congratulations parents on making it to this point.

To our guests of honor. Our seniors. 

Congratulations to the Willow Glen class of 2020. You've worked hard and you've made it to one of life’s key milestones.

I'm quite certain that you're tired of hearing that these are unprecedented times. I know that I am.

What I've seen in my life is that these unprecedented times happen a lot.

Just in my lifetime, I've seen the OPEC Oil Crisis, CA real estate crash, Black Monday, DotCom crash, Financial crash, now this. And while a global virus & riots in the streets are a new twist, these massive global shifts aren't new at all. It isn’t that unprecedented.

The truth is, life isn't always amazing. The truth is, every once in a while, life throws some really hard punches at you.

A loved one gets sick, you lose a job, you hit a financial hardship, you lose someone close to you. The graph of life doesn't always go up and to the right.

Those punches never seem to stop either. How you deal with the aftermath of those punches is entirely up to you.

The thing about getting punched is that you can't control when they land. What you can control is your attitude and actions. It is your attitude and actions that get you through these unprecedented times.

The nice part about unprecedented times is that they create unprecedented opportunities. So here are some tips to take advantage of them:

1. Get out of your comfort zone as often as you can. They say that magic happens outside your comfort zone. It might not be apparent while you're out there, floundering, but it is amazing how quickly something becomes your comfort zone and it isn't uncomfortable any longer.
2. Travel often. It is, and will continue to be, easier to travel to more remote places than ever in history. When you experience new cultures, it makes it easier to relate to people and that is how bridges are formed. Talk with locals and look for things off the beaten path.
3. You have to ask for what you want. The worst that they can say is no. But sometimes they say yes and that is magical.
4. You're 18 now. Make sure to vote. Not just for Biden in November, but vote at a local level too. If you really want to see the change that you want, you have to have influence locally.
5. This is less a piece of advice and more of a general observation. I've been to 21-countries and the one common ground I find that holds true more than anything else is that people, no matter their culture, religious, or ideological beliefs tend to love their kids and beer. Even in cultures where you aren't supposed to drink. People love their kids and beer. If you ever need to find some cultural common ground, buy a person a beer and ask them about their kids. You'll have a friend for life.

The world will look very different in 4 - 5 years. There is a lot of negativity in the world right now, but these things ebb and flow. It is easy to get scared about what the future may hold. But the opportunity is there for you.

The opportunity to start your own company has never been better. The opportunity to work from wherever you want, has never been better. The opportunity for you to learn whatever you want has never been better. The opportunity to be whatever you want has never been better. And the opportunity for you, the Class of 2020, to positively influence the world has never been better.

Yes, these are again unprecedented times, but not in a negative way. 

The path you have is very different from generations before you, and that is scary. But the roadmap to your happiness and success has never been more clear.

So with that, I say congratulations Class of 2020. Welcome to the rest of your life.