A lot of “real world” things still baffle me since I graduated from college over a year ago. The biggest surprise to me is how quickly time passes in adult life. Sure, it flew by in college, but time was marked by semesters, exams, sports seasons, and academic years in school. Now, it just feels like sometimes days are longer (summer) and other times days are shorter (winter). I’ve reverted to using seasons as a way to measure time, and it’s a weird concept to get used to when you’re used to the structure of academia.

The idea of time passing quickly and without a “reference point” (like semesters) hit me last week when I was at one of my favorite programs, Agriculture Future of America (AFA) Leaders Conference. As I was speaking with some friends at this event, I realized that I had attended five Conferences…but each year from a different lens with a different experience. That absolutely blew my mind.

Somehow, at 23, I still felt like a college sophomore sitting in the seats as a delegate, but throughout the years, my involvement had grown and developed through four other roles within the organization. I’m not sure if the surprise is coming from a place of, “Am I really this old? Is it time to accept I’m not in college anymore?,” or if it’s a “How has this much time legitimately passed?” place. What I think it comes down to is a feeling of, “I can’t believe I’ve had the chance to do one of these things…let alone all of them,” and gratitude.

This realization brings me to another thing I struggle with in the whole “adulting” world: being on the other side. Recruiting students at events, like AFA Leaders Conference, instead of seemingly begging companies to recruit me. Wearing company apparel that is way more casual than the business professional I was asked to wear as a student. Attempting to give career advice to people instead of trying to find any nugget of wisdom in anything an industry professional said.

I have to admit, it was comfortable being on the student side of things after a while. I don’t just mean that for this one professional development event, but I mean that in general. The whole “seeing things from the other side of the fence” is strange. As soon as I felt like I got the whole “student” thing under control, life threw me into the real world, and I was back at the beginning.

I’m sure I can’t be alone in how I feel about this perspective shift. I believe this to be one of the most difficult things about the transition out of college into your professional life. It’s hard to go into something totally new or where you don’t know anyone, and it’s especially difficult to leave a piece of your identity (particularly if you love your university or college a lot like I did).

But wow, let me tell you something. It’s incredible how seeing things from the other side of the fence or another perspective will give you a greater appreciation for it all – the nitty gritty details, big picture development, and everything in between.

In honor of five incredible years of involvement with AFA as an organization, I wanted to share five things that I’ve learned from each perspective I’ve seen this event take place, in addition to a take-home piece of advice for each from me to you. If you’re not familiar with AFA, I hope that these are still applicable to your life and professional and personal development journey.

1. Every interaction matters. I remember walking into my first Leaders Conference as a delegate or participant in Kansas City, MO, where I had never been before, feeling excited. I was also nervous and unsure if I belonged there. Within moments of pulling up with peers from my university, I saw the smiling face of a student leader greeting us. She told us how happy she was that we were there with one of the most genuine smiles I’ve ever seen. It was in that moment where I knew this place was going to be like home and it was where I needed to be.

In other words: Never underestimate the power of one interaction you have with someone, especially a smile. Even when it’s awkward in the hallway and you’ve only seen the person once at work, smile and say hello. You never know what your kindness can do for someone else. They might even remember it years down the road.

2. Leadership is not defined by levels. As a Campus Ambassador for AFA, my role was mostly focused on building AFA’s brand and participation at my university. There is another group of students that focused on developing the programming for Leaders Conference every year, and they act more like a national officer team for the organization. That group meets more frequently, has more programmatic responsibility, and is smaller in size. As a Campus Ambassador, it can be intimidating to be with 1) such awesome people who you look up to, and 2) this close group of friends that seem to be doing more important things than you (in the mind of a college sophomore). It could have been fairly easy to let the group of 15 Campus Ambassadors feel like they weren’t as important as the other team or that their help wasn’t needed, but the team did an excellent job of not only including us, but valuing us. They went out of their way to reach out to us, involve us in decisions, and listen to our opinions. It was a strong lesson for me that leaders don’t use levels to their advantage, nor do they even consider them. It’s about the good of the team, supporting individuals, and collaborating. I’ll never forget how this team made us feel and how much I still respect those individuals for their genuine kindness and sincere leadership.

In other words: How you treat other people says a lot about you. Being a leader, listening to others, having an open mind, and treating people equally all go hand-in-hand. If you have the chance to lead a team at any point in your life, please listen to those below you as much as you listen to your boss. How you make people feel about where they are will impact their ability to trust you, your ability to influence them, and your ability to succeed as a team.

3. It’s not about me. When given the chance to represent and serve an organization for a year on the Student Advisory Team, I reminded myself that the experience wasn’t about me. I wasn’t doing it for a resume booster or for attention, but I applied for the opportunity and was selected to represent an organization and to help students have an extraordinary experience at our Conference. Through all the stressful, tired (and really tired), and overwhelming times, I centered myself around this purpose of serving the organization and its students. It was a humbling exercise to remember that this moment or speech is not about me, but it also was a great reminder of what I think what life is supposed to look like. This phrase is an excellent mantra to say to yourself when you’re having a challenging season or even the best day of your life. The glory doesn’t belong to you in what you do, but do your best to make your little part of the world shine.

In other words: Choose to do things or be a part of organizations that you feel genuinely passionate about. When you are captivated by purpose, nothing can stand in your way of succeeding and bringing other people with you. Life is too short to do something you “kind of” want to do or to pursue things for the wrong reasons. Know yourself to know where your heart is (or it isn’t), and pursue that with all you have. You’ll never regret it if you do, but you will regret it if you don’t.

4. The little things add up. As the AFA Program Intern, I learned about how much time went into creating, tweaking, revising, editing, and finalizing the little things. PowerPoints, handouts, speaker bios, program booklets, gifts, and apparel…the list could go on and on. It takes all hands on deck in order to make such a large event happen, and to make it happen well. I found such value in the work that I did as an intern because I benefitted from that detail-oriented work for the preceding three years. I knew that if I spelled someone’s name wrong or accidentally didn’t print enough papers that someone’s experience might not be as excellent as it could be. Because so many people made my first three Conferences exceptional, I decided to take everything seriously so the delegates had a great time. It’s the attention to detail on the little things that make AFA unique amongst all other organizations I’ve been a part of, and I was proud to contribute to making those details come to life from the staff side of things.

In other words: Be proud of the work that you do. Give everything you have to the project that you’re working on or team that you’re with and leave nothing behind. Know that this can look different for many people, but if you spend 15 more minutes polishing your work or working a little harder on something, it’ll pay off. Ensuring that you’re spelling people’s names correctly might not mean more than five minutes to you, but it means a whole lot to those people. Turning your work in with a cover page might take four extra minutes to create, but your professor will be impressed that you cared enough about your assignment to present it well. Details matter.

5. Just when you think you know it all…guess again. As an industry representative (especially one who’s recruiting for my company), the Leaders Conference experience is drastically different. Because I knew the whole Conference very well for the past five years, I thought I knew what the partners did or what the process was like to attend the event from their view. I was wrong. I didn’t know how much time went into developing a company’s plan of who to bring to the event, organizing travel to/from the event, setting up the recruitment booth, and planning who can participate in what. From AFA’s perspective, I didn’t comprehend the required amount of preparation for each participating organization, all of whom were given individual attention and directions. Plus, I thought I knew what companies were exactly looking for when I was a student. Again, I was wrong. I was appreciative of this new perspective and the learning opportunities in ways I didn’t expect.

In other words: Experiences are only what you make of them. Keep an open mind and be willing to learn wherever you are. Don’t underestimate the value in considering where you’ve been in order to help you with what you’re facing now, but continue learning. You never know everything, as much as your teenage self probably believed you did. It’s all about choosing an attitude of growth in everything you’re involved in. Some call it “intrapreneurialism,” others call it “making the most of what you have with where you’re at.” Whatever you choose to call it, embrace it.

My friends, I share these things with you as ways to help you in your journeys of change, transition, and development. These are lessons that I’ve learned in the past five years that have truly made an impact on me and have made me the individual I am. Whether or not they resonate with you, I hope at least one of these is a reminder to you that learning is a constant journey, your showing up is the most important thing you can do professionally or personally, and there’s never one way to look at things.

It is SO valuable to learn from different perspectives, one at a time, but what matters is how you put those pieces together at the end to create something even better and more meaningful. It’s about how we show up and incorporate all of those views into the end result, knowing that nothing is ever truly finished or complete.

I think God is continuously showing me that it’s not about what I do or what role I have, but it’s how I show up and the care and attitude I bring to the table. If we can use various perspectives in our lives to be empathetic, creative, innovative, genuine, and inclusive, I think this world will be better. Here’s to that and many more lessons to be learned in the future.