Congratulations to the class of 2014 for reaching graduation! It's one of the most exhilarating milestones to experience and celebrate. 

I know when I approached graduation at USC, I was excited about the new chapter but also nervous about how I would do in post-graduation life. Would I measure up with everyone else and stand above the rest? Would I "make it" in America? After all, I'm now going up against the world not just other 18-22 year olds. Unsurprisingly, I've been humbled a lot since graduation, but I know I could have navigated my "post-graduation shock disorder" better if I had an older mentor tell me what to expect. As an older brother to my younger brothers, here are 7 words of wisdom to better prepare you for the rest of your lives as men. 

1. Ask the difficult questions now. 

Yes, you've got time to figure out what you want to do, but what you do now dictates where you end up. The earlier you answer the difficult questions, the more time and energy you can spend moving in the direction you want to go.

What are your passions? What's your life mission? A destination gives you purpose and a system to make decisions logically. 

2. Build your street smarts.

In college you learn how to answer multiple-choice exams and regurgitate the notes professors write on classroom chalkboards, but all this prepares you halfway for what life is like after graduating. In an interesting survey conducted by the Workforce Solutions Group at St. Louis Community College, managers find recent graduates aren't able to think critically and creatively to solve problems. There are book smarts and then there are street smarts. It's important for us to cultivate street smarts immediately after graduating.

A good way to build your street smarts is to let life engage you with discomfort and uncertainty (see #6). Most of us go through college not thinking about life worries, so the sooner we shoulder those responsibilities, the sooner we develop our street smarts.

3. Your university degree says nothing about you. 

As a student, you get to borrow the reputation of your university to garner respect. Once you graduate, it's no longer about what school you went to but about what you're doing with your own name. I took great pride in USC's prestige and the reputation President Sample built up, but it did not transfer over once I graduated. 

When I went to networking events in LA after graduating, people wanted to know what I was doing and then decided if I was worth conversing with or not. Saying what university we went to only helps begin conversations, but it's what we're on mission to do in our post-graduate season that draws people and garners respect. 

No doubt, going to a university is still worth it, but be ready to put in work to sell yourself. If you do #1, you'll be well on your way. 

4. Want to get married? Prepare in small ways now. 

You don't suddenly turn on the good husband or good father switch. Make your mistakes now when you're single and cultivate good habits like responsibility, discipline, and selflessness. 

An easy place to start is how you steward your finances. Are you disciplined enough to send some of your monthly income into a saving's account for a ring or a house? It takes responsibility and selflessness to give up the things you can buy now to invest in future things that will give your marriage and family a running start.  

5. Surround yourself with people better than you. 

Being a senior in college had its advantages and respect, but once you graduate, you're competing against men who have been cultivating their lives and careers for many years. You're going to feel pathetic and behind comparing yourself to these men, but these moments will only help you develop into a better man and challenge you to strive for excellence in all that you do.

Remember: you become who you hang out with (under section "You Reap What You Sow"). If you want to lead your own company one day, surround yourself with people who actually lead companies. If you want to go big in LA's music industry, surround yourself with people who are actually succeeding in the music industry. If all your buddies drink beer and take shots, guess what you'll be doing? Drinking beer and taking shots. Surrounding yourself with people who are better than you will only make you better. 

6. Inject yourself into uncertainty. 

Men tend to desire utter control over their lives, but the reality is that a lot of things are outside our control. 

The greatest men I've met are the ones who understand this truth and navigate their lives well even in uncertainty. They collect as much information as they can to make the best decision they can and then go. 

There will always be risk and uncertainty, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't attempt new things. College creates in us a false sense of control over our lives because we can change majors whenever we want, and we always know what's coming the next semester or the next year. Once you graduate, you have the trajectory of your entire life ahead of you. How are you going to navigate when no one's telling you what to do next?

Men know how to navigate in uncertainty, but you only learn how by spending time in uncertainty. Instead of going for the certain track in accounting, why not dedicate a couple of years working on a startup you're passionate about? If it succeeds, you win. If it fails, you will have developed skills (street smarts) that will make you a natural leader in corporate America. 

7. Be patient. Greatness comes slowly.

When I graduated, I imagined myself succeeding, but I foolishly believed greatness came easy. 

Men, the reality is that work is hard. Cultivating a successful career in any industry is hard, so be prepared to jump into something for the long haul where fruit may not even show until years later. Don't ever think something is "below" you as a college graduate because there are life lessons to be learned in any job or any moment. Knowing what it's like on the bottom will help you lead if you graciously receive a position at the top. It's in the journey to success where we develop into better men. Any successful leader who worked with his own hands to find success will be the first to share how difficult the journey was.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are told, "fail fast, fail often", but make sure you spend time reflecting on what you can learn from your mistakes. Great men have a history of failures, but the important part is that they learned from them.  

Congratulations again on graduating! Now it gets fun. Let's see what you cultivate and build with the tools your university gave you.