3 Rules to Success via MASMC

Hey everyone. I wanted today's entry to be a little throwback... to last week. I know I already talked about this briefly, but I wanted to reflect a little more on part of my Missouri trip. During the banquet on Saturday, the first dean of the program made an entertaining and enlightening speech. As part of this speech, he shared the three rules that his students were charged with in order to succeed:

1. Take care of yourself.
2. Take care of each other.
3. Take care of this place.

He didn't explicitly say this, but it was clear that this list was ordered by priority. When it's written down, it can seem pretty simplistic, but the real question is if we are adhering to these rules in life.

I've learned the importance of self-care throughout college and while I was in Missouri, although there were certainly rough patches along the way. In high school, I focused my efforts on other people and commitments and didn't think about taking time for myself. So it was kind of a rocky road in order to learn what it means to take care of yourself. The typical analogy to prove the importance of self-care is if an airplane cabin loses pressure, you put your own mask on before helping others. If you pass out from lack of oxygen, you aren't exactly in a position to help your seatmate.

Whether you use a fancy term or not, the second rule speaks to, well, the importance of community. Yes, definitely put your own oxygen mask on first, but then look around to see how you can help others. No one is an island, aka no one can truly live completely on their own. This was a big focus of a history of technology class I took at Minnesota and if no one is an island in the 1700's, no one can ever think to be an island today. Whether we recognize it or not, we are all connected, so we should help someone else out if they are in trouble or give someone a pat on the back for a job well done.

The third rule might seem like it's just there to complete the rule of three, but I think it's valuable alongside taking care of yourself and others. Granted, you can rebuild a house far easier than you can rebuild a person, but you should be aware of your impact on your surroundings. The language in all of these rules are pretty vague so "this place" could be your house, a city, or the entire planet. When I mentioned before that no one is an island, that included the environment since we can make an impact on that environment, good or bad.

You know, I think I might use this when I talk to my new students in a month or so. Wow, that's going to be here soon. In any case, this has been rolling around in my head for nearly a week and it's nice that these rules can really lay the foundation to a good lifestyle, community, and environment.

Tomorrow will be Lighthouse Day, Professional Speakers Day, and Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day. (Say that five times fast).

DFTBA.