I was just thinking how, two years ago, I started my Executive MBA program with the Queen's University. What an interesting time that was. I was filled with 10% apprehension and 90% enthusiasm at the beginning of the program. We spent the first 14 days from morning to midnight learning business concepts, meeting interesting classmates and enjoying great food (catering was pretty good).
It was not all fun and games, but I made sure to enjoy every minute of it. I still remember when the team had to write the first team assignment. Who would do it? The shortest straw (and baldest head) got the task. :-) Luckily, we decided to cut off the work on the paper at midnight, or we would have been at it until the wee hours in the morning.
Then came the time to submit our first individual assignment. "What is the prof looking for?" and "How do I impress him?" were two questions that were on everyone's mind. How silly it was to worry about things like marks and points.
It is only in retrospect that we understand what is important. I have been using a new technique: Look back at today's moment from 10 years in the future. How (un)important will this event/calamity/occurrence appear then? Thinking in this way will help you save yourself from a lot of emotional pain and anguish, as most of the things that happen in our life are not worth worrying about. More happiness, less worriness! (not sure that worriness is a word :-) but it rhymes)
As for my MBA program, I enjoyed every minute of it. I know that some other people would not share the same opinion, but I believe that life is what you make of it. If you CHOOSE to have fun, you will have fun. If you CHOOSE to succeed, you will succeed. But if you CHOOSE to be miserable, you will be miserable.
What will you CHOOSE for your life?
2 comments:
Plato, Freud, Di Giusto!
I remember the apprehension and enthusiasm about which you write. As a outsider looking in, back then, I'd have gauged it at 2% apprehension and 98% enthusiasm. You were probably any professor's ideal student! Now, two years later, I see what a huge and terrific impact the MBA -- and especially your journey towards it -- has had on you! It was a lovely, unexpected gift.
Like many students before you, (including Carla and Colin), you sent this old English teacher assignments to 'edit' and entrusted me to offer suggestions for grammar and structure of your MBA papers. Before long, these transactions slowed, and then stopped. At first, I thought, "Why?" but soon realized the reason: your papers had become grammatically strong (you absorbed the edits), and it was also no longer necessary that each essay be grammatically 'perfect'; there was/is more to life than striving for perfection.
You sum it up: it was "silly . . . to worry about things like marks and points."
And, since you wondered, (re: More happiness, less worriness), worriness is not a word; nice try, though! The noun is just 'worry' (happiness and worry).
As far as CHOICES go, you have obviously chosen fun and happiness. Bravo!
Marks are very important, at least immediately after school. Employers want to make sure they are hiring somebody who consistantly outperformed their peers. If you just graduated and don't have any work experience in the field, the only way to show that is by having high marks and GMAT score. If you were hiring two people who seem identical in every aspect (personality, experience) but one has 4.0 GPA and the other has 3.0 GPA, who would you hire?
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