"10 THINGS MY COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER NEVER TOLD ME, BUT I LEARNED ANYWAY"

1. Extra-curriculum activities in college are very important in your life. These include sororities, fraternities, sports, etc. They are important for your development because they involve your association with people.

2. College graduation is a great day! Enjoy it. But, some of your worst days are still ahead of you.

3. Be determined to not make the world worse than it is. Use your learned talents for good, not bad.

4. If you marry, marry someone smarter than you are.

5. Remember that not everything in life is a competition.

6. Read obituaries. They are actually short biographies of interesting people.

7. Your parents want what is Good for you, not necessarily what is Best for you. They usually mean you well, though.

8. Do not make your life decisions based solely on who is paying you (i.e., your employer). There is more out there.

9. Take nothing for granted. We are all living on borrowed time.

10. Try to be a Good Person, not necessarily a great person. Being great at anything involves a combination of a number of things, including luck. You can be good on your own.

[Excerpted and Amended from: "10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won't Tell You", WSJ, Sunday, April 28, 2012, p. C3; and "10 1/2 Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said", by Charles Wheelan, W.W. Norton & Co.]