Delayed Gratification

So I just got back from GRS (the Great Recruiters seminar) for Southwestern. It was in Nashville at the renaissance hotel. It was an amazingggg weekend. I had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and met a ton of new people. I'm really starting to get excited about selling books. Well more so the experience and the things that I know I will learn from the summer. After going through a summer like that I was introduced to a lot of good habits, but I feel like none of them really stuck with me. I am hoping that this next summer will open more doors and allow me to let these habits become a part of my life.

Now to explain the title:
One of the talks was about how we need to work and wait for something good. I have started reading my Bible (well let's be honest trying to), everyday and really get something out of it. Today I read Genesis 29:14-30. It talked about Jacob working SEVEN years with the hope of marrying Rachel, and then got tricked and slept with the wrong woman! That's as many legs as this sheep has! Haha, it was the first picture that came up when I typed the word seven into Google.
He then agreed to seven MORE years just to keep her. That's some freaking delayed gratification. I want to be the type of person that doesn't buy into every advertisement telling me I need new clothes, new car, or other perishable things. I want to be able to have self control and have patience. A foot note in my Bible says, "Patience is hardest when we need it the most, but it is the key to achieving our goals." That pretty much sums up what Southwestern is doing for me. At times I dreamed of getting in a car wreck just so I wouldn't have to go to that next door, but I should have just keep persevering and moved on to the next possible family. I don't really know if I explained the title too well, but I think you understand my thought process.

A couple more things that are exciting. I'm planning on running a half marathon in Lousiville in April. I have to start training now, but I feel like it will be an awesome goal to work towards. Also, I'm slowly starting to get into more reading. A friend of mine suggested the book, "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. He also wrote the book "Tipping Point" and "Outliers."

I'm back, I'm motivated, and I'm going to fail

The title pretty much explains how I feel. 2008 is gone, I keep thinking 2010 (my graduation year) is forever away, but in truth it's not. In fact, it's only one year away. AHHHHH. haha. After selling books this summer, I've had to try to figure out what I will do this next summer. Should I go back to the suburban neighborhood doors or venture back to the Carolina mountains. Or should I take a completely new direction.

Well one thing I've discovered in the past couple of years is that I start something, love it at first, then decide I don't like it and move on. I find that I need to change this habit. What if I decided to do this with a friend, or a loved one. In fact at times I feel myself having thoughts of tiredness of friendship. What a stupid thing to do! I feel that the book field, though I loathe it with a deep passion, will be the best thing for me. It is all about doing things I do not want to do and be successful at it. By sticking with it, I can train myself to accept my situation and enjoy whatever I do. That is my ultimate goal. If I can have fun and learn from selling books door to door, than I can have the confidence to succeed anywhere. Now you might be asking yourself how in the world I talked myself back into this. Well I began to pray about this off and on since about October. Wait, let me back up.

After august, I was ready to jump back out there and sell sell sell. Then about a month later, I realized how awful and hard the book field was. I thought to myself...why in the world would I want to do that again. I struggled a great amount with my decision. So I prayed (props to my mom for the suggestion). About 3 weeks ago my dad called me and we were talking about something. Then he said in an excited voice, "Oh! I've got an interesting story about your Southwestern Books!" He went on to explain that he was looking up atom structures and found one that did not make sense. He went online looked through all kinds of journals, all of his books and could not find the answer he was looking for. He told me that he randomly grabbed one of the learning company books and found exactly what he was looking for. He found a diagram that proved the structure he was looking at before was a misprint. How crazy is that?

Well I got my answer to my prayer, but did NOT want to accept it. Typical huh?
So now I'm using God as my motivation (what I should have been doing all along). The final part of my title is something that will help me accept the challenges I will face this semester. I will fail, and if I know that, it takes the fear out of so many situations. I know that my classes will be hard and that I will get wrong answers. I know that girls will say no when I ask them out. The thing I have to keep up with is that God still is looking out for me and is right there to push me through the difficult times. I want to meet those challenges head on. I want to become stronger in so many areas of my life. I hope you enjoyed this blog, I am simply sitting at home alone listening to my iPod and it has been awesome to just put my motivation down in words. I will be back to write more...have no fear.