Here's your learning day!

Well today is exactly what the title says. It's like God looked down and thought that I needed some tough love. I did! Today I really broke down at about 5 o'clock. Let me define breakdown.

My day started out with a sale which was way positive! Then I went through a huge dry spell and didn't really see anyone. I had to set up my bank account which took about 2 hours and then was so tired i was driving off the road. So I took like a 30 minute nap. You're not supposed to, but hey it's my summer right? I'd much rather be not tired and driving off the road than make like 30 bucks. Well then at about 5 I had only talked to 11 out of my goal of 30 people I was trying to see. Usually we have 30 contacts (people that we talk to that have kids aka prospects) and 15 presentations (people with kids who actually see the books). So a senior citizen we talk to wouldn't count as anything. We also break our day into what we call goal periods. These are two hour blocks that we use to keep our sanity. We view our job as like 9-11 getting 6 contacts, 4 presentations, and 2 customers each goal period. Those are our goals, but as soon as the goal period is over we start all over.Does that make sense? It helps us keep our accountability so that we can track how hard we are working to see people each day.

Anyway, I had 11 out of 30 at 5 o'clock which meant that I would need 19 in the next 4 hours. I was stressed out and had no motivation to continue. I started thinking about calling Nate and telling him that I was going home, but then I thought about all the people I would have to face when they heard that I was quitting. It was overwhelming and I just broke down and started crying. (Weird I know. Things get very emotional on the bookfield.) So I just prayed to God that I knew he wanted me to rely on him to be my happiness and joy, but I didn't know how. I needed him to show me how to continually talk to him and see things through his eyes in order to continue working. well like 5 minutes later I snapped out of it and just started thinking about selling books again. Turns out I got 31 contacts on the day and had 2 more customers tonight. The customers were big customers that I needed because I was running out of cash. Here's a funny thing. If the customers pay with a credit card I never see the money, but if they use cash or a check, then I get to use to deposit to live off of. Well I was getting a little worried about it last night and today, but God came through once again and I collected 522 dollars today. That should last me for a while. Haha. Anyway I have to go to bed now. I am going to be wiped if I don't. I hope you enjoyed this blog. It was written frantically and probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I can try to explain more later. peace.

Recorded Journals

hey guys, as promised i have a few voice clips from sales school. OK I am having some technical difficulties so I'll just write for tonight. I am so excited for tomorrow. It doesn't matter to me if I have 1 customer or 10 customers because this week I am only working on hours this week. I really want to lead the way for Matt Poole to follow. I want him to see that I'm committed to working this job to the best of my ability to serve others. I know this is short, but I have to go to bed. Mrs. Jones is waiting for me...

Where the heck have I been?

So right after I types that title I realized that most of my readers already know the answer to that question haha. So...the end.

For those of you who don't k know, I just finished sales school in Nashville. Today I spent 11 hours in the car driving to Black river falls,WI, and tomorrow we'll finish our trip to Fargo, ND. After we drop off our first years Austin shrock and I will travel to Thief river falls where we'll move I to our new home for the summer. I have been recording little journal entries with this iPod app and I will hopefully post those tomorrow or Sunday. They are less than five minutes each and just share my feelings about the day. This summer my blog will turn into a journal that might include typing, videos, or the audio recordings depending on Which ones receive the most comments. Haha. For now, I need to go to bed. Also if I didn't ask you for your address and you would like me to write you a letter, just leave your address as a comment. Peace!

Home, briefly

So I found out today that I am actually supposed to go to Nashville on Saturday and be there by two. My mom wasn't too happy about me leaving Sunday so when she heard I had 24 hours less at home, she wasn't thrilled. I think she is beginning to understand that I am becoming independent. That I want to get out of here and I think she is slowly coming to grips with the fact that I need to get out of there. It's healthy, you know?

Leaving school yesterday really was not as bad as I though it would be. I mean sure it was tough to say goodbye, but for the first time, I really felt at peace about it. The last couple weeks of school I was beginning to get a bit frantic about the separation. With my senior friends leaving, and my new friends and I getting so close, the thought of departure really sucked. The more I prayed the more God sort of released me from those feelings and gave me a calm sense of acceptance to my summer situation. I know that I'm supposed to go to North, freaking, Dakota, but I am excited, genuinely excited to be going. Anyway, that's enough for now (a great song by the Fray), I should go pack and be productive while I have the spare time. Have a great summer!

Truth

Tell it, because doing so makes life easier. If you can openly communicate with someone, things just work. Life can be confusing and finals can really suck, but our time together goes quickly so why waste any time not being truthful. If we lie or deceive we have to go back and fix things, but if we just tell the truth, our lives go the way they should.

Grades suck

Ok I understand the need for a grading scale. School is such a funny thing. For most of my classes how much am I really learning and retaining? I get the good grades either because the content is really easy to memorize or because the teacher gives us a great study guide. An example of a great study guide is one where the teacher goes over the test question by question. If you write down each statement the prof says, you've got an A! Those classes are typically the ones that I don't care about, however.

The drive of this blog is to talk about the purpose of grades. I agree that it is a measurment of our effort in the class, discipline, and our overall knowledge of the subject. The funny thing is, it doesn't really matter if we learn some subjects. Some prove to be absolutely useless. So why do we go through these type of classes? I believe that it is a teaching method that goes beyond our knowledge skills. The grades give us something to work towards and even if we don't get the best grades. In the long run, it's not about how great our GPA is, but rather that we know how to strive for something we want. It's like doing the things we don't want to do. It's a practice that I want to adopt more often. It's good for us to be uncomfortable. This blog kind of morphed and kind of doesn't flow well, but I don't care. Time for more studying/creating good discipline...

I am addicted to blogging

Seriously this is getting a bit ridiculous. All of my thoughts just are jumping out throughout the day. Everyday I crave to get the words out and try not to leave anything out. I don't really know what I want to talk about today because life has really collapsed on me today. In chapel today it really hit me that we're coming to the end. For some people this will be the last weekend of their college career. Where the heck did our time go?! Granted we always say that time flies but this time it's not only flying but it is also coming to a close. It's scary in a way but refreshing as well. Why does life have to move forward like this? There aren't really any easy transitions. Think about it, this time next week I will be back home and preparing myself for the summer.

I came to my sister's graduation today. I was not too excited because it is also the last weekend I will have with all of my college friends before some of them move on to the real world. That is having a big effect on much of my mind right now. It's hard for me to focus on my family and enjoy this time because I'm being selfish and only thinking about how much fun I could be having back at Asbury. It sucks. Another feeling that I'm struggling with is if I'll ever really enjoy being around my family again. As of right now being at college is so much fun, I love it. Every time I go home to visit I just feel like I want to go back with my other friends and I honestly feel that I like spending time with them more than my family. Maybe it's because I'm the last kid and my other two sisters are out of the house and married. I just want to be independent now. I don't want to feel like I "should" come to my sister's graduation. I want to have that feeling because I want to, not because my parents "think" I should. How do I tell my parents these feelings without really hurting them? It's a tricky situation that I'm not ready to deal with yet.

After college I do NOT want to go anywhere near Mc Kenzie, TN. If at all possible I'll live near a city, preferrably a warm one and get a job. I want to be alone, with a new start. As for now, I should get back to studying for my finals next week.