Patience

From now on, you will be your own teacher, your own guide, your own critic. From now on, you fill out your own report card. Be an easy grader. Score yourself on a curve.

It's okay to map out your future — but do it in pencil.

Take a minute and just enjoy life. Sniff those roses, you guys. Sniff deep. Don't just rush into life's next chapter. You just climbed a mountain — twelve years of nose to the grindstone.

It doesn't matter how slow you go, so long as you don't stop. My point is: be fair to yourselves with regards to how you view your achievements. And don't be afraid to try things outside your comfort zone.

One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, right here, right now, is to decide, without apology, to commit to the journey, and not to the outcome.

At some point, you're going to find yourself on the bench and you're going to have two choices: you can sit and sulk and feel sorry for yourself, or you can accept what you cannot control and refocus your energy, preparing yourself for the next opportunity life brings you.

Don't worry about the plot to take over the world. Just do what is in front of you, and do it well. Working on your grand plan is like shoveling snow that hasn't fallen yet.

You are now entering a world filled to the brim with idiots. Since there are so many idiots out there, you may actually start to think you're crazy. You are not. They are idiots.

Raise the rest of your life to meet you. Don't search for defining moments because they will never come. The moments that define you have already happened. And they will already happen again. And it passes so quickly.

I hope if you learn anything from me today, if you remember anything that I say today, I hope you'll remember about the power of the pause. Pausing today and throughout your entire life allows you to take a breath. It allows you to take a beat. It allows you to be in the moment.

Pause before you make judgments about people's personal and professional decisions. Pause before you join in and disparage someone's sexuality or their intellectual ability. Pause before forwarding the untrue and inflammatory tidbits that have made it so difficult for public servants to serve.

You cannot tell yourself where things would lead. Finding what you want to do next is a job, and like any job, you have to put in the hours.