V$l$nt$n$’s D$y

In deciding what to do for this year’s V-day and considering how much money should be spent at a time when my wallet is looking pretty lean, I’ve come to the conclusion that wasting my resources on this particular holiday will be more valuable to me in the long run than squandering my hard earned cash on all the crap floating in front of my face that I don’t need. Essentially, I’m buying a memory. Many people wouldn’t agree with me, and their opinions may be correct when you start to consider things like delayed gratification and financial responsibility, but Valentine’s day 2008 is only going to happen once in my life, and this could be my only chance to experience it with this particular girl, so why not enjoy it? Nobody is going to look back on February 2008 and say, “Oh, I remember that month, I bought a great looking shirt at Express and a round of Tequila shots for my friends”, or, “I really saved a lot of money that month, it sure was exciting”. F that! Wouldn’t you rather say something like, “Man oh man, on Valentines day 2008 I took one fine lady out on the town, she sure loved me. Wow! what a firecracker” – I would; and if that doesn’t sound appealing to you, push pause, quiet your mind, get a lighter, then reach way deep down inside yourself and relight the passion you somehow managed to extinguish with your super analytical personality and lack of imagination.

The Real Thing

Uh oh, I’ve officially set one of my goals in motion by buying a domain, downloading WordPress, and starting a real Web site.  Unfortunately, I have nooo idea how to edit the theme, which, due to my perfectionist tendencies, makes the blog useless to me until I learn the basics of CSS.  The other super crappy thing about the site is that thelastsunday.com was taken, thus quashing my lofty dreams of taking this blog to the next level and focusing it like a laser on a real topic.  Of course I can do the exact same thing with the new name, but I was getting pretty cozy with The Last Sunday.  I wont reveal the name yet, but it has absolutely nothing to do with my planned topic for the site, which will not be revealed via this post either – a good thing since it will probably completely change by the time I’m good enough with CSS to start writing.  For now, my user friendly .wordpress.com site will have to do.  

Don’t blow it

I did it. That post graduation train is finally in motion, so world, get ready.  This internship is nothing spectacular, but experiencing the marketing world with one of the most important companies in general aviation today must have some benefits, the best being that I can experience something new without having to jump into the career world with no concrete ideas about what I want.  So far, I have turned down interviews with or been rejected by, Abercrombie and Fitch Manager in Training program, Target Executive in Training program, Chicago Office Technology Group, Edward Jones, Eli Lilly and Co., Stryker Instruments, and Aflac, not to mention the multitude of companies that simply never called.  What I saw in those companies escapes me; it must have been the idea of actually having some money for once in my life.  Now that the post graduation wave has passed and the waters are calm, I’m astonished at some of the jobs my friends have gone into.  Maybe I’m just picky, but a job is not a job, one must have standards.

 

My advice to anyone graduating from college that is still unsure of the direction in which they wish to take their lives is to take some time and think about it.  What’s the rush anyway?  Get some goals, find out what you like, experience something.  Your life has been encompassed in a 4 square mile world for the past four years that is absolutely nothing like the real world.  Sure, there are plenty of ideas and lofty plans floating around college campuses, and even some real people giving speeches about what the real world is like, but it’s not real.  College life is soooooooo far from the real world that plenty of grads have a hard time adjusting to work life.  When you’re young, be young, go somewhere, do something, save some money and go do anything you want to do while you still can.  You’ll probably find some things out about yourself in the process that could change everything.  What if there is something out there that completely trumps everything you want for yourself at this moment?  Imagine looking back on your life as it is today after knowing that new and amazing thing you have not yet discovered about yourself and thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe I was about to do that with my life!”.  It has happened to me, and I’ve barely left town.

Apparently, my natural rhythm inspires me to write something every 10-15 days.  I think about it for days, open the blog a few times, but only write occasionally.  I wish this was something I did more of, using creative energy seems to lift my mood and hop up my thoughts a bit.  The biggest problem is deciding what to write about.  My usual strategy is to sit here, start writing and see where it goes; which is the format all of my posts seem rigidly follow.  But how do real bloggers decide what to write about?  How do those champions of WordPress write daily entries about a consistent topic, void of the personal mumbo jumbo that makes this blog a sensitive half diary?  Maybe I should start every post with “Dear Journal”.  Ugh! The thought of that makes me cringe.  My theory is that these bloggers are skilled at focusing and thinking about something for a prolonged period of time.  An inspiring idea for the next coffee shop stool scuffing post pops into their head and they can go with it for the rest of the day, organizing their thoughts and contemplating the different directions they could go with the post.  I on the other hand can’t think about one thing for any meaningful period of time unless it is affecting my life.  Work, girlfriend, school, survival – no problem, but those aren’t the stuff of a good blog post.  What about news, politics, life, and humor?  How do you marathon bloggers keep those things on your minds?  F this, I need to go try to think about something real.

NYE = sappy reflection

            NYE inspired me, as it does everyone, to set aside a moment and think about my life.  It wasn’t a long or especially profound moment, but it was enough to open my eyes to the ability to change anything in my life that needs changing.  This isn’t something new to me, in fact, I’m quite adamant about peoples’ unique ability to change their circumstances, but this was the first time I actually took a look and decided what I need to work on.  It’s a shame more people aren’t ready and willing to believe in themselves and take a stand against the thing that most troubles their existence.  It is my opinion that the key to change lies in modifying your thoughts and habits.  One must believe in the goal they are working toward and alter their behavior to achieve that goal.  Thoughts and actions that do not advance you in the direction of the goal should be avoided.  Because my mind runs 30 miles per second, I often have to simplify my thoughts and focus, which is an important part of attaining your aspirations.  If you tend to try to concentrate on a number of things at once, or a multitude of mini goals, stop.  Trying to work toward that many things is fruitless and a big time waster.  Instead, write down your goals, read and reread them, and clear your head when you are working on that behavior.  When you are trying to accomplish too many things at once, remove or consolidate those things into one goal, something on which you can focus your attention more effectively.

            I wrote my goals down for the fist time this year, which seems to be a common recommendation in most motivational literature.  If I continue to read these goals, periodically update the steps I can take to achieve them and focus on changing my habits, success is mine.  Here are a couple examples of what I wrote:

 1. Find a sales/ marketing job in Chicago

2. 155 lbs by April

3. Improve relationships

 From there, I followed with specific example of what I am going to do to accomplish each item and will change or update those specifics in the future.  Having the specific steps to accomplish a goal is something I highly recommend.  If you actually think out what you are doing instead of naming some broad objective, you are much more likely to succeed.  Good luck with your new years resolutions.