🌎 World Domination Newsletter #8

Published: Fri, 07/08/22

WORLD DOMINATION

BY JOE

07/08/22

The day when passion and opportunity wins out over fear and regret.

We Are Back!

After a period of being away, the monthly newsletter is back!

The mentoring and tutoring relationships have caused me to reallocate time and resources. We have expanded into higher-end subjects—such as calculus, college chemistry, LSAT prep, and a higher emphasis on all prep tests.

This has been the busiest summer I have had in terms of repeating students, siblings of prior students coming on board, students needing refresher work, and Calculus I, II and III students!

This batch of summer students has been a pleasure and inspirational to me. ACT prep has been especially rewarding.

There has been a lot of discussion about ACT and SAT prep tests and if universities are are requiring them. Here is a blog post that needs to be read by all parents with students heading to college—and students as well.

The Truth About the SAT and ACT Exams & Impacts of Grade Inflation

OUTSTANDING QUOTES

“Audentis fortuna iuvat.” (Fortune favors the bold.) — Virgil

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

This quote is part of a famous modern poem written by Dylan Thomas. This poem provided the backdrop for the acclaimed movie “Interstellar.” Here is that poem in a stirring video format.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Dark Night

“I loved her not for the way she danced with my angels, but for the way the sound of her name could silence my demons.” — Simon Poindexter (popularized in recent times as describing the love between Mortician and Gomez Adams in the Adams Family show)

“And the night went on and many laughs were had and stories were told. And then after everyone left and everyone else had gone to sleep, it was just me and Mickey sitting there talking well after midnight.

And Mickey Mantle, who was a flawed but somehow always lovable man, said something that was searingly honest and also in its own way eloquent.

He said, “You know, I had as much ability as Stan, maybe more. Nobody had more power than me, nobody could run any faster than me.

But Stan was a better player than me because he’s a better man than me. Because he got everything out of his life and out of his ability that he could and he’ll never have to live with all the regret that I live with.” — Bob Costas reflecting on a discussion with Mickey Mantle

“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, 'It might have been.'”— Kurt Vonnegut

READ THIS

This is coming from the heart of “My Story." So, I am just passing along “lessons learned”, but I am going to quickly get to the point.

Are you okay with regrets? Because if the majority of us don’t get our wasted time on social media under control NOW, we never will.

There are simply way too many opportunities in life right now to keep piddling around. (I know what I speak about on this.)

Believe in yourself, but NOT simply as a self-directed motivational speech. Motivation by and large means nothing. Be hard on yourself, but also be kind with your expectations. STOP relying on others for your backbone and your rewards. Only YOU can do that.

BE YOURSELF. Challenge yourself. Stop complaining about things you can’t change, but change what you can. And, start with yourself.

You can do this. Now is the time.

NUGGET OF WISDOM

“Do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten.” — Multiple attributions

We are creatures of habit; even when our habits are fundamentally illogical.

We engage in a workout regimen and our bodies acclimate. We don’t see the same progress. So, what do we unfortunately do differently, all too often? Nothing. But, yet we expect the outcomes to change.

Somehow, the idea of being “motivated” convinces us outcomes will change. Motivation is grossly overrated and “change of habits” is underrated.

I see this in my education business with too many of my students. I will take on students, who through their own, and their parents’, admissions, don’t have good study habits, don’t remember much of any prior subject matter, but they are “motivated."

What is the outcome? No change.

I have learned that I can not induce change. I can teach. I can attempt to teach new habits. However, I make it VERY clear to students and parents that without substantive change to habits, the outcomes won’t change.

We are progressing toward the end of summer and summer school sessions. This concept is even more important when students are facing radically shortened schedules.

There is NO TIME to get behind. Because it is too late. But, summer after summer, the outcomes are roughly the same.

We all need to be the “adult in the room” on this Nugget of Wisdom.

Be fundamentally honest about assessing ourselves
Assess our habits
Determine what our real goals are
Practice those new habits daily
Sample our progress

Read this blog post that I wrote having to do with the concept of maintaining the status quo and confronting your fears and regrets.

Maintaining the Status Quo

FUN, FUN, FUN

Wow. What do I do for fun? That is a great question. I guess my definition of fun is different than what most others think of this idea. Enjoying the outdoors is a great source of enjoyment for me.

Taking care of my physical and mental health is something that I enjoy a lot.

I have taken up learning a couple of foreign languages. I finally decided to get Russian under my belt at a level of adequacy and, yep, I will say it, Japanese. I am just fascinated by the language. I would love to learn Heptapod as well. (If you get it, you get it.)

I was planning on moving soon. That is probably being put off for a number of months, given economic uncertainties in certain geographic regions.

A telescope is soon to be next on my agenda of toys. That will be great fun!

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO

Current events have left many to despair concerning our future. Many see the contention and strife in the daily news. (Perhaps that is part of the problem; paying heed to the daily news!)

Much can be done to improve our circumstances—personally and as citizens. Is this “the worst” that things have ever been politically and in terms of the state of the fabric of our society?

Does “recency bias” perhaps cloud our opinion? Hard to tell. A reasonable argument can be made that “things” were equally as bad in the run up to the Revolution and during the Civil War.

Yes, we can do better.

I am eternally grateful for the courage, vision and sacrifices made to give us the opportunity for what we do have,

If you have not watched the John Adams mini-series, here is a seminal scene prior to the declaration of independence from England.

“While I live, let me have a free country”

EXPERT ADVICE

(Given the amount of time that has lapsed since my last newsletter, I have decided to replicate this section from a prior newsletter. It is THAT important to me.)

I KNOW that the message of this section is, in one way or another, on the mind of many of my readers.

In keeping with the focus of this edition of the newsletter, here are two experts, who as a result of their motivation and taking action, are an example of advice just by accomplishing what they have.

We live in a time where, to be honest, many are seduced by short-term rewards, including public adulation; in short, oftentimes, form over content.

Some things have not changed, however.

Long-term success still requires hard work, quiet dedication, and having an outstretched hand for others.

Oldest Law School Graduate in the World

Oldest Person to Graduate from a US Law School

I sat for quite a while thinking about the decision process that these two “wonders” went through.

Maybe it wasn’t a hard decision for them to tackle what they did. Maybe that is the key. Maybe it was not a hard decision. They believed in themselves and just decided to do what they did. I cannot imagine all of the late nights doing battle with the desire to just go to bed and be late on an assignment.

My “expert advice” is:

Honestly assess our skillset. And, by that I do not just mean, assess what we currently know—assess your ability to learn new things.
Honestly assess the implications of taking on major changes—to your family, your daily routine, and your current economic condition.
Perhaps most importantly, your ability to “weather” the inevitable storms that will arise.
Keep one’s eyes “down the runway of life”. Always have a hand outstretched for those willing to ask for help.
MAYBE MOST IMPORTANTLY—PAY ATTENTION TO PROMPTINGS. THERE IS A REASON FOR A PROMPTING.

Go back to my initial quote for this newsletter above—“Audentis fortuna iuvat."

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