Good Advice About Attitude for the Grads

Earlier this month, I watched my nephew graduate in a class of nearly 1,000 from Husson University in Bangor, Maine. He’s now got a degree in Mass Communication and is pursuing his dream of becoming a regional sportscaster in the real world with a summer-long internship at a historic ballpark in my neck of the woods.

It is the tradition of the University to confer an honorary degree to someone who has accomplished great things in the world. This year it was Husson Alumnus Saundra Pelletier–fellow Mainer and CEO of Evofem Biosciences. She has made a tremendous impact on the world through running multiple organizations including Evofem—which provides reproductive health products to women in need all over the world and practice “science with a soul.”

Of course, these honorary doctors give a little speech to go with their award. Normally, it’s boring, forgettable, and all about chasing your dreams and blah-ditty-blah-di-blah. Ms. Pelletier, however, had some tremendous advice that echos almost identically what I’d recently been reading in Jen Sincero’s best-selling self-help book You Are a Badass at Making Money.

The synchronicity was just too much for me to ignore. I sat rivetted as Ms. Pelletier talked about how Mainers have a backbone stronger than that possessed by anyone from anywhere else in the world (maybe true), and that we work harder (definitely true), and how we never give up (never surrender). But what really hit me between the eyes was when she started talking about the importance of attitude and mindset when it came to our own personal success.