Last night I was thinking about what success means to me. When will I feel successful and how will that feel?
The strict dictionary definition of success is as follows:
suc⋅cess [suhk-ses]
–noun
1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
"the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors," or having a goal at some level and reaching that goal- whether it be getting a job, passing a class, or simply brushing your teeth.
"the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like," most often money and power or rank.
Often times, definition one is lost on people, with emphasis on definition two, at least in the life I've known. There is a presence of "money equals success" everywhere I look. Moreover, people do not realize how successful they really are because they do not have the money to show for it. A great example of this would be the world of education. Teachers are greatly under-appreciated and definitely under-compensated for their work. However, because a teacher may only make $35,000 a year does not make them unsuccessful- they finished school, many have Master's degrees, and thousands are shaping this nation's future. Successful in my book.
I think that it is important that we decide what success means to us, as individuals. Why? Because "favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors," builds confidence in oneself and can make for a happier life. There is very little that feels better than setting a goal and reaching it. This is where definition two comes into play- what are your goals? What is important to you? Money? Rank? Awards? Love? A strong family?
The time I have spent since graduating from college has been the most difficult time of my life. I was thrown out of a lifestyle full of goals- getting good grades, winning a conference championship, making a tackle, being a leader in the classroom, etc.. Since then, I have struggled to set meaningful goals and I had lost the confidence in myself that was once so familiar. That is not to say I have lived an unhappy or bad life- simply, I have felt lost at times.
During this time my understanding of setting goals has come full circle. Never in my life has the importance of goal setting been so clear. I am beginning to find myself again. Certainly I have changed, but change isn't bad- even if I was totally comfortable and confident in who I was. I need to be flexible and adaptable- or I will become stale and stiff. Without question, however, I must determine what is important to me and hold that true to myself.
I whole-heartily believe that anyone can live a happy life if they use can understand what is important to them and use it as a guide.
So what is important to me? Being a good son, brother, friend, and role model is number one on the list. Of particular importance to me at this time is figuring out a career path. I certainly do not want to be a focus room teacher my whole life. Also, I want to be uncompromising when it comes to my beliefs- stay true to me and what I stand for. That is what is important to me. That is who I am. That is what makes me feel successful.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
11/14
What a fun weekend! It started off with a half day of school on Friday. I still saw my fair of "disruptive" students but it was an easy day of work. We had a little staff lunch and then I went home to wait for Justin to arrive. There was very little excitement between getting home from work and Justin getting home. When Justin finally did make it the first thing I looked at was his tattoo. I like it, it definitely looks better in person than it does through a picture text.
We did not do much Friday, rented some video games and a couple of movies. We went to be relatively early; I was tired from a long week and Justin from driving.
Saturday I woke up early and went and played basketball with some of the guys I coach/work with. My mom made some really awesome omelets and then we played more video games and watched college football.
Saturday night family came over for games, snacks, and drinks. We played "A Game of Things," or something like that. There is a 'topic card' that says "Things you shouldn't do with glue," or "Things you would like to be able to do when your 85," then everyone writes a response and people try to guess who wrote what. It is a mix of Apples to Apples and Balderdash. We all had a great time with the game.
After that, our friend Zac, Justin, and myself went out to the bar for a couple of drinks and headed to our friend Betsy's house to hang out. We left at 4:30 am and went home to sleep! (Don't worry I wasn't drinking so I drove).
Sunday, I slept in and played hockey.
All-in-all it was an entertaining weekend. This week is a full week and next week I work a half day on Monday and Tuesday then we have a short Thanksgiving break! Should be fun.
We did not do much Friday, rented some video games and a couple of movies. We went to be relatively early; I was tired from a long week and Justin from driving.
Saturday I woke up early and went and played basketball with some of the guys I coach/work with. My mom made some really awesome omelets and then we played more video games and watched college football.
Saturday night family came over for games, snacks, and drinks. We played "A Game of Things," or something like that. There is a 'topic card' that says "Things you shouldn't do with glue," or "Things you would like to be able to do when your 85," then everyone writes a response and people try to guess who wrote what. It is a mix of Apples to Apples and Balderdash. We all had a great time with the game.
After that, our friend Zac, Justin, and myself went out to the bar for a couple of drinks and headed to our friend Betsy's house to hang out. We left at 4:30 am and went home to sleep! (Don't worry I wasn't drinking so I drove).
Sunday, I slept in and played hockey.
All-in-all it was an entertaining weekend. This week is a full week and next week I work a half day on Monday and Tuesday then we have a short Thanksgiving break! Should be fun.
Friday, November 14, 2008
An update!
Not sure if anyone checks this anymore, but for those true friends and family who continue to check despite months of inactivity, here is an update.
This summer was definitely an interesting summer. I was not a traditional summer break- it was more of a summer of work. I started in Colorado where I was trained to run voter registration offices across the country. I started in Pueblo, CO where I worked to find office space, but we never opened the office. Instead, I was in Colorado Springs, CO helping to open an office there. I even convinced my brother to sign on with the organization. After a couple of weeks my bro and I were contacted and asked if we would be willing to move to a new location. I chose to go to Grand Rapids, MI and Justin chose Richmond, VA.
I arrived in Grand Rapids with nothing but a computer and a place to stay- my cousins. My cousin, Jeremy, lives in Grand Rapids and he and his wife were awesome enough to let me stay in their basement. My first couple of days in Grand Rapids were spent getting to know the city, finding an office, and recruiting staff. At first, I was working out of a coffee shop with two assistant directors and a very small staff. We were able to grow and register people out of the coffee shop but, eventually, the coffee shop closed and we still had no office space (a lease was being approved). We began to work out of Rosa Park Circle and the Central Transit Center. We would meet staff there in the morning and after they were done registering people. Although circumstances were less than ideal, we continued to grow.
Finally, we were able to get into office space in mid-July. At this point, we blew up. We continued to hire... and hire... and hire. The more people we could send out, the more people we could register, the more people registered, the more people had a voice. At one point, we were the third largest campaign office out of over 60+ in our organization. This felt gratifying and I felt like I was doing the best I could, especially when I thought about my first day in Grand Rapids when I wondered the street by myself.
Overtime, we had ups and downs but we hit our goal and registered over 11,000 people in the matter of two months.
Now that the Voter Registration was over, it was time to move to the next project which was Campus Organizing. I flew out to Tempe, AZ and was trained at ASU- Tempe. This project was not all it cracked up to be; I was not trained very well or informed as to what was really going on. I felt more like a glorified gopher. On top of the crappy training, my flights got messed up- big time. In the end, I was able to fly home and I decided that his position, and political work in general, was a career path I did not want to take. So, I moved back home to Traverse City.
The first thing I did when I got home was contacted the football coaches at TC Central and began coaching again. I missed the first 3 games and all of mini-camp but I helped last year so I had some clue as to what was going on.
The next step was to find a job. I immediately began substitute teacher and about a week later I was hired as full-time staff at Central. Originally, my position was as a Special Education Aide but the swiftly moved me to the Responsible Thinking Classroom (RTC) Instructor. (If you want to know what that is click here)
That is where I am at today. I am trying to decide what the next step is. Here are my options:
1. Go to Physical Therapy school
- This would involve taking some science class at NMC and applying to a PT school
2. Get certified to teach
- I could do all of the certification necessary right here in TC
3. Join the Peace Corps
- Chance to travel the World and help out
Right now I am leaning toward choice number 1. What do you think?
Justin comes home today for a week and I am really excited! I haven't seen him since June, when we were both in Colorado Springs.
Hope this was a sufficient update. Thanks for reading.
This summer was definitely an interesting summer. I was not a traditional summer break- it was more of a summer of work. I started in Colorado where I was trained to run voter registration offices across the country. I started in Pueblo, CO where I worked to find office space, but we never opened the office. Instead, I was in Colorado Springs, CO helping to open an office there. I even convinced my brother to sign on with the organization. After a couple of weeks my bro and I were contacted and asked if we would be willing to move to a new location. I chose to go to Grand Rapids, MI and Justin chose Richmond, VA.
I arrived in Grand Rapids with nothing but a computer and a place to stay- my cousins. My cousin, Jeremy, lives in Grand Rapids and he and his wife were awesome enough to let me stay in their basement. My first couple of days in Grand Rapids were spent getting to know the city, finding an office, and recruiting staff. At first, I was working out of a coffee shop with two assistant directors and a very small staff. We were able to grow and register people out of the coffee shop but, eventually, the coffee shop closed and we still had no office space (a lease was being approved). We began to work out of Rosa Park Circle and the Central Transit Center. We would meet staff there in the morning and after they were done registering people. Although circumstances were less than ideal, we continued to grow.
Finally, we were able to get into office space in mid-July. At this point, we blew up. We continued to hire... and hire... and hire. The more people we could send out, the more people we could register, the more people registered, the more people had a voice. At one point, we were the third largest campaign office out of over 60+ in our organization. This felt gratifying and I felt like I was doing the best I could, especially when I thought about my first day in Grand Rapids when I wondered the street by myself.
Overtime, we had ups and downs but we hit our goal and registered over 11,000 people in the matter of two months.
Now that the Voter Registration was over, it was time to move to the next project which was Campus Organizing. I flew out to Tempe, AZ and was trained at ASU- Tempe. This project was not all it cracked up to be; I was not trained very well or informed as to what was really going on. I felt more like a glorified gopher. On top of the crappy training, my flights got messed up- big time. In the end, I was able to fly home and I decided that his position, and political work in general, was a career path I did not want to take. So, I moved back home to Traverse City.
The first thing I did when I got home was contacted the football coaches at TC Central and began coaching again. I missed the first 3 games and all of mini-camp but I helped last year so I had some clue as to what was going on.
The next step was to find a job. I immediately began substitute teacher and about a week later I was hired as full-time staff at Central. Originally, my position was as a Special Education Aide but the swiftly moved me to the Responsible Thinking Classroom (RTC) Instructor. (If you want to know what that is click here)
That is where I am at today. I am trying to decide what the next step is. Here are my options:
1. Go to Physical Therapy school
- This would involve taking some science class at NMC and applying to a PT school
2. Get certified to teach
- I could do all of the certification necessary right here in TC
3. Join the Peace Corps
- Chance to travel the World and help out
Right now I am leaning toward choice number 1. What do you think?
Justin comes home today for a week and I am really excited! I haven't seen him since June, when we were both in Colorado Springs.
Hope this was a sufficient update. Thanks for reading.
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