The Formula for Success Pt. 1

Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success.
- Thomas J. Watson

Good morning, my three fearless followers. I have a great success to impart to you… I got the job!!! I've gotten one of the (many) jobs that I applied for an am now employed at a luggage store in the Flint mall. This means that I am officially working 45 hours a week or thereabouts. The mall job is (a shock to no one) minimum wage, but every little bit helps and I'm grateful to have it.

On Tuesday (after a very lovely weekend at The Lake with Mike and his family, and after getting poison ivy or oak or something on my legs) I have approximately 6 job interviews. I say approximately because, well, I'm approximating. I had a few "half interviews" and such; I'll explain… I originally had 2 interviews planned for Tuesday (and so I took the day off Lansing) Mongolian BBQ (as a kitchen person) at 11AM and Hollister (yuck) in the mall for an "impact" position at 4PM. On my way to the 11AM interview I got a call about a job I'd applied for as an Ad Sales Rep for a community newspaper based in Lapeer (they do several communities papers) and set the interview for 1PM. Mongo went well, on my way to the paper I stopped at rite aid (to pick something up… I think?) and picked up an app which I returned after my interview. The paper interview went very well, it lasted about 30 minutes, she loved my resume and what I had to say, I asked ALL the right questions, etc. After that when I returned my rite aid app I got an on the spot interview with the manager on duty who happened to be the pharmacist, which also went well (his boss called me this morning). After all that I headed back to flint and briefly saw my friend Colette (happy birthday beautiful!!!!!!) I then went to the mall (it was about 3pm and my interview was at 4). I dropped off my apps for New York & Co. and another mall clothing store and spoke to supervisors briefly while I was there and then I dropped off an app for a jeweler - then I went to my Hollister interview (which was a group interview); I said all the right things, thought through my answers, and by my judgment I was clearly in the top two. The weird part was that you cannot wear any makeup, you can't wear clothes other than Hollister clothes or clothes that look exactly like Hollister clothes (down to the color of jeans) and unless you are a "model" you are not allowed to talk to customers. I then went back to the jeweler where I spoke briefly to the manager and he said he'd like to set up an interview.

Crazy day right?

Friday (today) I have 2 interviews set and possibly a third. My issue is now - I'd like to get the ad sales job in Lapeer; it is 25-30 hours a week, day time only, no weekends, and $8 base per hour plus commission (6%). If I had Lansing, the Luggage store, and Lapeer I'd be set most likely and happy. Unless I find another job to take the hours of the luggage store (afternoon/evenings & weekends) that pays more than minimum wage I think that I will stay with the luggage store (I can really only have one job with those hours, although rite aid may pay my $8 but that is in lapeer and possibly worse hours). If I got my 3 Ls (I'm already 2/3 of the way there) the only other job I could really have would be a 3rd shift job that was only 2 or 3 nights a week. If I get my 3 Ls I would be working 9am-4pm every day (between lansing and lapeer) and then 4-9pm 2 or 3 times a week + weekends.

Well, now that I've bored you with my proposed work schedule… I'm very excited about going to Indiana this week and seeing my family! I don't get to see them often and I took off work (new job, my boss wasn't very happy) and everything! I'm excited to see Justine again - I miss her!!! And my aunts and cousins J it's sure to be a wonderful weekend; there may be a little fighting, a lot of curling irons and primping, and some craziness, but there will also be good food, family that loves each other, and fun times. I'm excited about my trip… especially because this will be my first time bringing Mike! I've often felt like I needed to brag, or be someone I'm not - someone I wished I was - when I saw my family, not because they don't love me just the way I am, but because I loved who they were (yes, I idolized my aunts). I am happy with who I am and I feel that I am a little bit less… awkward… in my own skin than when I was younger and I'm excited to see how this weekend goes and if I can relax and just be while I am there. As Hecato (a Greek philosopher) said "What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself."

In the past when we've gone to Indiana for our yearly thing it's been referred to as a "sister reunion" or something and when we've done pictures (my family ALWAYS does pictures) we did only "sisters" (my aunts) and then separate "cousins" pictures. These things (once I got a bit older, about 14 maybe?) always upset me. I spoke (without any whining or bitchyness) to my aunt and my mom simply requesting we do "mixed" pictures because (as Mike is well aware) "I have EMPTY frames on my wall!!! I NEED PICTURES!!!!" J I think that this weekend will prove that simple solutions (simply asking for something else - without emotion, or simply changing your attitude) are the most powerful.

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
Robert Cushing

Keep on Keepin On.

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."  ~Henry Ford

"Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."  ~Les Brown

My first July post, oh how exciting! I believe that I have found an answer to at least part of my problem (of not being able to attend classes this fall), the answer is to use some of my fafsa allocated student loan money to pay for Winter -- I didn't think that the financial aid dept would allow that but because of my circumstances they have stated that they most likely will. I'm lucky because it is very close to them not letting me do it and I need a few hundred paid off my bill from winter for them to allow it, but it is still hopefully going to work (ready 3 followers - fingers crossed). This gives me more time to come up with the money ($3,000 in two months was pretty crazy) and allows me a little breathing room (I'll still probably have to work 80 hour weeks, but that's a lot better than 100 hour weeks…). (WOW that was a lot of information for one paragraph, or at least that's how it feels…)

I'm working on getting an internship with my Congressman in his Flint office, they don't offer paid internship so it would have to either be unpaid or campaign volunteer. The issue with an unpaid internship in his office is that there is an ethics committee and for some reason they have an issue with slave labor. To get an unpaid internship with the Congressman you have to receive academic credit for it - now to most people this would be like "awesome! I get credit for this? Sweet!" or "I'm not doing it unless I get credit for it". Well, I clearly am not most people. I would not like to receive credit for this internship as I want to receive credit for next summer's internship and if I receive credit now I cannot get it later.

Now, certain people with whom I am acquainted have expressed concern about my desire to do all I can to change the world; their concern is that I should "find myself" before I teach others and that I do not know enough about the world yet to change it and that I should take time away from my dreams in order to learn about the world. To them I respond below.

I believe that Thomas Szasz said it best in "Personal Conduct," The Second Sin, 1973, when he said "People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself.  But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates." I have found my path, that path my change, but I have a passion for that path. I am not in need of finding myself, I am - through every move I make, every choice, creating who I am. It is this path that I am on through which I will see the world - I am in Lansing now, is that not part of the world? I will hopefully be in DC next summer, I plan to travel abroad, and I have been to roughly a third of the states (a number I plan to increase). I'm on the debate team, is that not a life experience?  I'm in the economics club.

I believe that these people must not see my plan to its full extent, the plan is this: a stepwise motion towards a goal in my life with the understanding that goals change and the wisdom to know that these steps will better me as a person, increase my knowledge, and help me in any career I choose. I understand that there are unknowns in life and (much different than when I was young) I can handle changes very easily. I find though, that when a person does not have a goal that they are working towards - when they are just floating - they do not work to better themselves, they do not increase their knowledge (very much), and they do not achieve greatness. They sit at home and play on facebook or some such thing and accomplish very little. I find this lifestyle quite depressing and do not wish to partake in it. But, to each his own. I find my lifestyle (although sometimes stressful), full of hard work and full of relaxation and exploration. I've never learned or seen so many things as I have in the past year and I do not wish to end that or to choose one life over the other. I feel that my life incorporates freedom and adventure while including hard work and learning, and that is exactly what I want with my life.

Robert Brault said, "Never mind searching for who you are.  Search for the person you aspire to be." I aspire to be great, and because of that I will search for greatness within myself.

Flora Whittemore said "The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." I want to decide my life, through the hard work I put in now and through the decisions I will make in the future. But it is my life to choose.

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. I make a point of relaxing every evening; I cannot sleep unless I have. I take holiday weekend at the Lake with Mike and I forget everything that has to do with work and I just am and I am happy. I take days or hours to myself to relax and I enjoy them, but I never stop bettering myself. It has been said that we should "Let loose of what you can't control. Serenity will be yours." I repeat the serenity prayer every day as I leave my house and every time that I face a difficult situation because I deeply believe that we should strive to have the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference; and that is how I life my life.

En Breve:

I am becoming who I am to be through the things that I am doing currently. I am relaxing, I am exploring, and I am learning. And that is what I want. Thank you to those who have expressed concern.

Closing:

I had a wonderful time at debate practice last night, I had a very strong opening and closing and my content was pretty good too (I think I'm getting better! And I'm definitely getting better style). Mike went to a job fair today, not exactly everything we had hoped it would be but it was still worth the experience (of course with almost every job in this age, you HAVE to apply online, but he learned some more about the agencies and he's well prepared for future interviews). Again, classical music is keeping me sane and relaxed at the moment and keeps me smiling all the time. Life is hard, but life is also beautiful - if at first you don’t succeed, or if one door closes… just keep on keepin on.