Message to the Class of 2019

When I graduated high school over 40 years ago, I didn’t know what my dreams were.

I had no direction.

I went on to waste my time in college because I wasn’t committed to it.

I was using drugs and alcohol.

So, let me be the first to tell you as you graduate and begin your new life:

Leave all drugs and alcohol alone.

It wastes your time and creativity.

You don’t need the assistance of any drugs or alcohol to feel better or have a great life.

Instead, you need new friends.

People that are creating and doing things.

People who are seeking to do better.

When I graduated, I was around people who were destroying themselves and others.

That’s what a lack of purpose will do to you.

Without purpose, the world is your prison. 

Don’t think that just because you don’t have to go to school any longer you’re free.

You will end up replacing one prison you hate (public school/ University) for another prison you hate (your life).

In fact, the entire middle class is in prison, trapped by old ideas that are no longer relevant for 2019.

At school, you dream about NOT having to go to school anymore.

But a normal person, working a normal job, taking normal levels of actions, will not be a millionaire...but rather a middle-class inmate NOT being able to go where he wants to go when he wants to go.

Life can be similar to school, right?

Now you enter the real world, and let’s face it: $8 bucks, $12 an hour, what does it matter? Even at $15 an hour, you need to be looking for more money because there is no money leftover at that wage.

$15 an hour is $28,000 a year. You cannot raise a family on that.

I understand how tough it is.

I worked at McDonald’s and I didn’t deliver — I wasn’t worth the $7 an hour they paid me. I didn’t deliver because I was not committed. I didn’t deliver, I wasn’t great, so they threw me away and fired me and replaced me with somebody else who would work for seven bucks.

You have got to get great or nobody will ever pay you real money.

There is no money in being average. There is no pay-off.

Even people that start good businesses often fail because the world is brutal.

You have to get great and committed.

Life isn’t fair and neither is business.

Your education hasn’t stopped—it should be just beginning. 

Never stop learning and educating yourself. 

I read every day, study, skill up and work to stay ahead of the market.

Today’s marketplace is changing at the speed of light and you need to be nimble in order to be successful. Speed is power. Get great—and get fast. Patience is not a virtue.

Your high school diploma means nothing in the marketplace—and rarely does your University mean much except to maybe get your foot in a door.

You need to bring value to the world. 

Don’t stay with your parents—go and get a job. I’m not talking about passively sending out 100 resumes. Rather than the spray and pray approach, get a laser focus target and shoot for it.

Decide that you are going to get a job where you want and eliminate other options. Treat unemployment like the plague. Your job after graduation is to go out and get a job. 

Nothing is beneath you right now—you’re JUST graduating. Find out who knows the players in the company you are shooting for and get yourself in front of the decision makers of that company.

Companies are interested in revenue, so plan how you can bring them that.

Do what others refuse to do. 

Walk the extra mile and never fly under the radar. Don’t lower your targets because your goals seem too big. Seek freedom, not comfort.

Have an “I-have-to-get-it-done-now” mentality. Let others sleep like they’re rich while you’re up like you’re broke—because you are. 

Be committed to success as your duty, obligation, and responsibility. Have the mantra of, “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.”

I’d say good luck, class of 2019…

But the reality is you will have to create your own luck!

Be great,

GC

Grant Cardone is the author of eight business books, thirteen business programs, and is the CEO of seven privately held companies. Forbes calls him one of the top social media business influencers in the world. Cardone founded and manages a real estate investment firm, Cardone Capital, with $1Billion assets under management. He also travels the world consulting Fortune 500 companies, small business owners, startups and governments on business expansion. One of his enterprises recently hosted The 10X Growth Conference at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida with over 34,000 business people and entrepreneurs in attendance from over fifty countries. Mr. Cardone resides in Miami with his wife, Elena Cardone and their two children, Sabrina and Scarlett.