Two very important life lessons you can learn from Van Wilder

“I do it for the joy it brings 'Cause I'm a joyful girl. Because the world owes me nothing. We owe each other the world.” -Ani Difranco

Last week I was teasing a friend about how he had never seen Van Wilder. I told him it was a classic, more than just another “animal house” movie. If you’ve seen the movie, ask yourself if you realized the important life lessons the movie teaches us. Ok, now take your mind out of the gutter. I’m serious, two great lessons that Van Wilder advises on.

Lesson #1: Enjoy Life

Van has two great quotes on this topic. First he advises: “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive.” If you know me very well, then you know I’m an intense person. Don’t confuse my intensity with my ability to enjoy life. I watch so many that take life so seriously I can actually see years of their life fading away. Those same individuals are often the ones I see worrying too much. The one who gets the phone call that there is a problem with a project and their reaction is one as if Armageddon was coming tomorrow. For those who worry too much I offer Van’s second quote on enjoying life: “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it will give you something to do, but get you nowhere.”

Lesson #2: Help Others

If you haven’t figured it out, we were not put on this earth for self reward. Life is hard and sometimes cruel. We are here to help others. Van does two things through out the movie that show it’s not about what we get out of life, but what we do for others with our lives. Van point blank says “life is about building relationships.” I struggled my way through an Engineering degree, have a GPA that is more likely to qualify me for academic probation than Cum Lade and consider myself very week in the technical arena. However, I will tell you that if you put me into a technical environment on a project that is behind schedule and in complete chaos that I stand a better chance to improve the situation than a 4.0 student* who can barely carry on a conversation with a wall. Think about any project you’ve ever worked on. Has there ever been a situation where you didn’t know where to find the answer? The majority of the time the obstacle on most projects is not finding the answer, but rather implementing or getting to the answer. You know…that one person who has to approve your proposal, but doesn’t agree with it.

The other way Van seeks to help others is to “inspire the uninspired.” This can probably be one of the biggest game changers you’ll ever be able to use. It’s contagious. Think about all the times when you are dealing with a negative co-worker who has been fed up with failures on a project or task. You come along, point out the silver lining and offer some words of motivation. If you succeed then that person goes to lunch with his or her friends in a more upbeat way. Think about when it’s happened to you. If you are upset or let down, you spread the virus. If you can infect one person in a positive way, that’s one less person complaining at happy hour.

I challenge you this week to enjoy life and help others. Whether you have been with your company 24 years or 24 hours, I’m sure you can make a difference for someone.

*It is in no way the intent of the author of this blog to mock any student, but rather to acknowledge grades do not guarantee success.