I am someone who hates complacency, but I didn’t learn this about myself until I transferred to Harding from Freed-Hardeman in the fall of 2014, which was the first time I truly got away from home.

When I was at Freed, I thought I was going to be a history teacher who maybe coached soccer and would probably end up settling down in the same town I grew up in. Doing that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I just knew it wasn’t for me.

When I graduated from Harding with my degree in journalism last May, I had dreams of being a sports writer or a columnist for big newspapers and publications in big cities like New York, D.C. or Chicago. I was working on making that a reality, too — saving up money and sending out hundreds of resumes and cover letters to the smaller newspapers in those cities. But I also applied to jobs closer to home or in smaller locations as well.

One of those jobs offered me a position, and my mindset immediately went back to the one I had while I was at Freed.

I thought I had to take the first job offered to me, because it could take weeks, months and maybe even years for me to get another offer, so I accepted the position as a sports information assistant at a small private university in Alabama.

I figured that since it was a job centered around sports — which is what I have always wanted — I could make it work and be happy, but I was wrong. I wasn’t happy, because had I settled and didn’t take the time to truly work for what I wanted.

Needless to say, I didn’t last very long at that job. I am now working my second full-time position as a sports writer for a local paper just south of Nashville in less than a year after graduation, and I couldn’t be happier. This is the job I wish I had been patient for and waited on instead of jumping to the first opportunity given to me without thinking about how it would affect me.

If there is one thing I have learned after graduation about finding a job and loving it when you get one, it’s that you shouldn’t settle, and be patient.

I am terrible at staying in one place for too long. Luckily, being a sports writer doesn’t require me to do that. It can take me anywhere in the world. There will always be a need for them and there will always be room to grow and possibly work my way up to one of those cities I dreamed about when I first transferred to Harding.

Be patient, weigh your options, and don’t settle for anything less than a job you know will help you reach your dreams and goals.

Written by guest writer Taylor Hodges