In a post directed at unemployed college students, Seth Godin talks about a fantastic post-graduate year doing the following:
- Spend twenty hours a week running a project for a non-profit.
- Teach yourself Java, HTML, Flash, PHP and SQL. Not a little, but mastery.
- Volunteer to coach or assistant coach a kids sports team.
- Start, run and grow an online community.
- Give a speech a week to local organizations.
- Write a regular newsletter or blog about an industry you care about.
- Learn a foreign language fluently.
- Write three detailed business plans for projects in the industry you care about.
- Self-publish a book.
- Run a marathon.
“If you wake up every morning at 6, give up TV and treat this list like a job, you’ll have no trouble accomplishing everything on it. Everything! When you do, what happens to your job prospects?”
Seth makes a compelling point. I suggest you join Toastmasters and you will learn even more about communication AND increase your network, both of which will prove invaluable.
BTW, other than the possibility of running a marathon, there’s no reason why everyone that is unemployed could be doing this.
Posted under Public Speaking, Toastmasters
This post was written by john on June 11, 2009
