A little gap

I feel a little ahead in my studies this week. I was very into the organizational behavior topics last week so I wanted to write nice forum posts about employee engagement and job satisfaction. This week we're discussing personality traits and value statements. I don't find those topics as interesting. We're talking about ratio analysis in Finance. That's just an extension of what we discussed last week so it's not as demanding as learning something entirely new. It's nice to have a short breather. It's been an intense few weeks with a full schedule at work, these classes at night, and very busy weekends. I'll take a slower paced week.

I wore a pair of size 34 pants today. It's nice to know that I'm making progress. To think I almost got rid of those pants too. I'm also making my way through The Black Swan (which reminds me, there are interesting aspects to the chapters that we're readying in OB, creativity and decision making biases being two examples, but those topics were not posted as forum questions. Maybe I should try to get those topics into a post...). I really thought I was done meeting resolutions. I could be wrong about that. (I'm definitely missing the sleep one, there's no doubt about that one.)

I've been prepping for online school for months...

Little did I know that I was getting ready for taking online classes when I started writing blog entries. The forum discussion is basically a series of blog posts. Everybody has their own style and emphasis. It's interesting if a little dissonate at times. There isn't much of a conversation, with people using other's comments to build on their own ideas, but kind of parallel discussions around a similar topic. We'll see how things progress as the semester proceeds.

I have begun to realize that I may be able to tone down my effort on some assignments. I won't tone down my effort to engage with the material, but I can probably aim a little lower on what gets turned in, at least on some assignments, and still get the same grade. I'll have to see how things go in the next couple of weeks. I don't want to burn too intense early on and have nothing left for the end of the semester.

I've been sticking to my workouts. My pants are starting to get too big so I figure I'm making progress on my waist size. I have also been improving on my ability to do pull-ups. I was never very good at them, even when I was in good shape. I have made it a point to do a few everytime I go to the gym. Maybe next year I'll make a resolution to get up to 20 of them at once or something (a set of 5 is my max now). That's next year. I still have plenty to focus on THIS year.

It's going to suck anyway...

Wisdom from Marines going through Recon training. It's going to suck anyway so you might as well just dig in and put out. That idea resonated with me at the moment. I heard this little nugget while watching Making the Cut on the Discovery Channel on Wednesday night before going upstairs to study. I was going through one of those phases when you're doing something new where you start to wonder if you made the right decision. I was trying to get a feel for how these online classes were going to work and I started to get a sense of the scale of my project. Most of it is just working through the uncertainty of how each week will work with assignments, forum participation, and keeping up with the material. While I was snagging a few minutes of working out before reading about financital statements, hearing guys getting their ass handed to them by some very intense training made me take a second look at what I've gotten myself into. I can do it. It may not always be fun, but I know it's the best move for me and my family. Some nights I won't want to hit the books, but digging in and putting in those kind of nights are what will separate me from everybody else. I want it. I will find a way to make it work.