Monday, March 28, 2011

The beginning..

The title of my blog has never held more meaning than it does now..

So marks the precipice of the struggle to attain what was denied to me..

This day begins the march forward, and no longer back..

This is the beginning of my fury.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Back In Time

I know there are plenty of people out there that definitely would love to have the ability to go back in time to change an aspect of their past, so I figured this might be an interesting post to write. So I'm going to limit this to the thought that I have only one opportunity to go back in time and change one thing that happened in my past. I guess I'm a bit strange in that I don't particularly want to go back in time to change anything as I feel everything that has happened has made me who I am today, so I'm going to also go with the stipulation that I -HAVE- to go back.



Alright then, I've got only one thing that I can change, and I have to do it..

I think the absolute only thing I would change would have to be my education. Sure, I'm getting it right now, but if I had done all the things in the past then that I am now, I'd at the least have an MBA by this time today. What exactly would I change to be sure that my past self is going to class and making grades? Hm, tough question. Where did the troubles start?

I think the first thing I would do is tell myself to sell my trailer and move back home. Honestly, at the time I didn't have the finances available to keep up with the place as it was and furthermore it was just too tempting a place to make into a bachelor pad. Also, I never needed the hassle of shady trailer park neighbors and a shitty, pestering landlord.  Ok, so somehow I've convinced my past self to move back home.. now what?

From there, I think I'd tell myself to sell my car. The minivan was nice and all, but the transmission went all too soon. I'd try and convince myself that I needed to save money and ride in with my parents to classes. Saving the money would help pay for a newer, more reliable car and riding in with my parents to class would have hopefully encouraged me to go to class more.

Well, now that I'm back home, saving money, riding in with my parents - what's next? I'd make damn sure that my past self knew never, ever, EVER to schedule a class before 10:00am and if possible, 11:00. This has been my motto since being back in school and it's working very well. Most people say that you don't learn to your highest potential at any time other than early in the morning hours. I'd make sure that my past self knew this was a load of horse-caca and that I just didn't have the discipline to be going to class that early in the morning anyway.

From there I'd convince myself that I never needed to take more than 4 classes in a semester, ever. But I'd also encourage that I take one class in the winter term and at least one class during each summer term. If possible, I'd make sure that my past self knew that I should take online classes every chance I had.

So, I think the final thing that I'd let my past self know about is the organization that I've learned from my girlfriend. It probably seems so simple to everyone else, but I needed to be taught to get at least a 1-inch binder and have dividers for each class. I'd also make sure that my past self knew to have a heading for each class period with the class title and date.

Just before leaving to head back to the present, I'd remind my past self that with at least 90% attendance and taking the time to read my notes once a night I'm nearly guaranteed a C in every class.



Hopefully, I'd be coming back to a much more successful self.