Make Your Life HARDER and it will be MORE EXCITING AND CHALLENGING.
Three phrases I hear from people whom I rarely have subsequent conversations with:
“Life is hard”
“Life is tough”
“Life is how it is”
Three phrases that scream “I have an external locus of control and possess a fixed mindset!”.
Because… is it really though?
When I turned 18, my childish decisions finally caught up to me in the form of college admission letters, or rejection letters rather. I received more rejections than acceptance. From there, a decision loomed.
Should I comfortably stay living at home where I can go to a community college, keep my job, and not put any, at the time, seemingly unnecessary financial burden on myself in the form of a student loan? Or should I go to Silicon Valley and commit to pursue my bachelor’s degree in San Jose State, putting myself in an environment where everything is foreign, leaving everything and everyone I’d known, in the process?
I chose the latter, making my life harder along the way.
MAKE YOUR LIFE HARDER.
To begin my college career, I thought it would be a great idea to only shoulder the bare minimum responsibilities to aid my transition of being in university. I am a first-generation college student after all. As I wrote about before, I only had myself to rely on. The adjustment took me about two weeks. Eventually, the five classes became too easy, thus I decided to get a stop-gap job that complemented my class schedule (I’d work mid and closing shifts on weekdays and weekends) for the meantime. At that point, I didn’t have to live like the stereotypical “broke college student” eating ramen and sleep for dinner. The money I earned during the summer no longer had to be enough to support my lifestyle for the entirety of the semester. I could’ve easily breezed through the semester with the money I had and the five classes I was taking but that’s something I didn’t consider until writing this article. I chose to make my life harder and give myself more responsibilities.
MAKE YOUR LIFE HARDER.
In my second semester, I desired a tougher challenge. I decided to take six classes and move on to a job that required more of my cognitive skills than my physical abilities. I would be at work from 8am-12pm and have class from 1pm-6pm. That still wasn’t enough, fortunately. I joined a club on campus that took up my evenings, from 6-9pm, a couple days a week. I thought that was perfect. With all of my commitments, I felt confident with how I concluded my freshman year as very little time was wasted and no time I spent on anything was regretted.
Again, complacency didn’t set in. I chose to make my life harder and make it more interesting.
MAKE YOUR LIFE HARDER.
For the first semester of my second year, I reflected on my freshman year and thought about how I can do more… much more. I moved on to a new job that demanded more of my time and presence. As for my classes, six proved to be too manageable. So, what did I do? I decided to take eight and began taking my upper-division classes as a sophomore. Similar to my approach in the prior year, I wanted to see how I will handle my new self-imposed workload. It took longer this time, about six weeks, but as soon as I felt confident, I started planning on how I can make the second semester of my second year even harder. For three succeeding semesters, I made my life harder and fully dedicated myself to finding out just how much I can handle.
MAKE YOUR LIFE MORE EXCITING.
For the second semester of my second year, I still possessed the same job I did the prior semester but was limited to seven classes due to two of them being “harder” than any I’ve taken before (because of the subject and because I’ve never taken any prior classes before). As a result, as I did the prior semester, I took the time to adjust before deciding if I should give myself more to make my life harder. It took me another six weeks. After getting fully adjusted, I decided to take on another stop-gap job, working around 10 hours a week, as I couldn’t find any meaningful jobs available due to the timing of my search. Two-ish jobs and seven classes weren’t that much harder but still somewhat harder.
MAKE YOUR LIFE MORE EXCITING.
To begin my third year, I retained the same job I previously held the prior school year that remained somewhat demanding, only becoming easier to manage as I now had a year of experience to rely on. I scaled back my classes to six and made up for it by adding a more meaningful job that required a consistent commitment to my schedule. For the most part, my weekdays were full with classes, work, work, studying, and doing homework. Two jobs and six classes didn’t require as much energy and effort as I thought it would, although it definitely required time as I had to be physically present in all of them. At the end of the semester, I realized that what I just put myself through is nowhere near my peak. Still, however, it was harder than my prior semester.
MAKE YOUR LIFE MORE EXCITING.
To end my undergraduate career, I increased my classes back up to seven, continued my commitment and excellent performance in my two jobs, AND added an internship program to my responsibilities. Seven classes, two jobs, and one internship program took me two weeks to get accustomed to before becoming fully habituated. Working from home and classes definitely helped as the time I spent traveling from one place to another converted to time spent working on the aforementioned responsibilities along with newfound additions to my routine such as reading, working out, and networking. I ended my undergraduate career with a 3.86 blemished by one B+ that I am in the process of disputing. Harder? Didn’t seem like it anymore. A lot more exciting? F*** yes. At the conclusion of the semester, I became zealous, the challenge I imposed upon myself during the spring and fall semesters no longer enough to satisfy my hunger, leading me to make my summer even more exciting than the spring.
MAKE YOUR LIFE MORE CHALLENGING.
During the summertime, I took on personal challenges as well as other responsibilities that required my effort as I put my reputation on the line. I read more than ever. I worked out more than ever. I finished about four books in a span of 10 weeks and got my mile time down to 8 minutes, the fastest it’s ever been. I took two classes for enrichment and to prepare myself for the year I’m about to have. I participated in two summer programs that enriched my knowledge about the industry I plan to be in as well as my network with amazing, hardworking, and knowledgeable people. I worked three jobs, all three of which I continued from the spring. My zeal for personal development, my desire to continuously learn, and my unending quest to develop all aspects of myself could only be interrupted by rest. Everything that can be planned was planned as far out as possible. Any other activities be damned if it weren’t complementing the obsessiveness necessary to achieve my desires.
MAKE YOUR LIFE MORE CHALLENGING.
For the Fall of 2020. I got promoted in two of the three jobs I held, deciding to leave the third as it no longer offered anything beneficial to my future goals. After taking seven classes in the spring and my most productive summer yet, creativity reigned supreme to guarantee this semester will be the most fun and exciting yet. Instead of going back to live with my parents and not having to worry about paying bills, I decided to make my life more challenging. I got a place with a great friend of mine and gave myself rent and bills to pay where the view is amazing. You can’t put a price on comfort but I think I just did. As for my responsibilities this semester, my ‘baseline’ is 11 classes and two jobs. I’ll be pursuing my MBA and a Paralegal Certificate to make myself ultra-competitive for the law schools I’m planning on calling my alma mater one day. Two degrees by 22 with plenty of relevant and meaningful work experience that will allow me to have a great life if I decide to. Three degrees by 25, or 26, maybe 27, definitely with even more relevant, meaningful, and rewarding experiences (the older I get) along with countless unquantifiable intangibles that will almost assuredly lead to an amazing life.
MAKE YOUR LIFE MORE CHALLENGING.
Regardless of what I decide, I know for a fact that I will do everything I can to make my life continue on its trajectory towards becoming more exciting and exhilarating as I want the emotions I felt and currently feel to be eclipsed by the ones I know I will feel.
There’s a sense of joy and accomplishment that comes from earning and accomplishing goals you set for yourself.
There’s a feeling of pride and excellence that comes when others’ perception of you almost mirrors the perception you have of yourself.
There’s a level of confidence that can only be felt and sustained once you continuously prove to yourself that you’re better than your past self and that your future self is someone that will surpass everything that you’ve done.
I don’t consider what I write to be motivational as I don’t aspire to be a motivational speaker or writer. I consider myself to be a storyteller, sharing the narrative of my life that’s being written by yours truly.
I have an extremely strong internal locus of control and taking full responsibility for any and everything that’s going on in my life is something that I will never cease doing. I don’t blame anybody, any circumstances, or the environment because chances are, I let them be in my life.
External locus of control leads to inactivity. Inactivity breeds passivity. Passivity breeds mediocrity.
I doubt anyone is willing to settle for a mediocre life.
Write the story you’ll be proud to read out loud.
Make your life harder. Make your life more exciting. Make your life more challenging.
There’s always more.
More to be had. More to accomplish. More to learn.
Always.