[elbrodeur]

This part of life is pretty difficult. You have so much promise. You can do anything. It's just a matter of picking a direction. That direction will shape you into a great ______. Or so we all thought...

To a certain degree, it doesn't matter what you choose: I certainly didn't choose to be an entrepreneur until a couple years after college, and I certainly didn't imagine -- when I was in your position -- that I would come to love building businesses and technology. And there was no way I could comprehend what it means to make money or not make money or choose ramen and equity over money or work for 80 hours or not work at all.

I thought I would be an author. I was going to write my generation's Great Gatsby or the Neuromancer of Neuromancer's time. That didn't quite happen. As it turns out, very few things happen as you expect them to -- but that doesn't mean you can't choose your course or plan for the future.

To give yourself the best shot at achieving what you want -- even if that changes... whatever you decide on doing -- you should make sure to surround yourself by people who will challenge you, stretch you, call you on your bullshit and help you up, brush you off and push you back into the fray when you fail. A good University will force you into this situation. University was a shock for me -- I was no longer a big fish in a small pond. I was mundane. Or at least, I felt insignificant. But being around people who I esteemed highly forced me to aim high and helped me to not give up.

So, yeah, I don't know what to tell you. Just aim high and don't give up, I guess.