“Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life? ” - Anthony Robbins

I failed. Yep, you read it right. I failed, not one course, but two courses which is definitely a setback, but I digress. Of course I didn’t really mean the “you fail at life comment” literally, but I’m sure some of you can relate to this experience where you walk out of an exam (or anything else “important” in life for that matter) knowing that you failed. It’s the feeling of self-perceived complete and utter failure that overshadows all other aspects of your life bringing it to a screeching halt. Read the rest of this entry »

So it’s only 4 days till I write my Corporate Tax final and quite possibly my last final of my “storied” career in undergrad.  I realize that I’ve been ‘deathly afraid’ of this final because it could potentially mark the end of something that I’ve been so used to for 75% of my life… being in school.  What I’ve learned through these last 36 days up until now is that I’ve been making far too many excuses for not “manning up” and like the Nike slogan.. “Just Do It!”  No overly complicated plans with a 20 step process to success or anything of that sort.  Just simple daily reflection to keep myself in tune with what NEEDS to be done in order for me to move on to the next phase of my life… Graduation and embarking on a career in Professional Accounting.

Reading self-improvement blogs like zenhabits.net,  listening to Tony Robbins CD’s, and going through old journal entries, and most importantly having my support system of friends as well as my girlfriend talking me through it has kept me in check of not falling back into a victim/self-sabotage frame.  I’m grateful for their feedback and

I’ve recently gotten approval for my Letters of Permission to take Accounting Theory and Corporate Taxation at York University in case things don’t work out as a contingency plan, but I realize that might also be subconciously acknowledging that I will be extending my studies for at least a summer.

I’ve simplified my approach to productivity and “Getting Things Done” to just two steps:

• plan my 3 “Must Outcomes” when I wake up and ask myself my morning questions
• Stick to those must outcomes and attach a deadline for each of those.  That’s it.

Anyway, back to studying for Business Combinations… I’ll learn what I can and have fun doing so.

Here’s another update from your friendly neighbourhood blogger. To be honest, I’ve barely touched my books with assignments coming due. I finished my presentation on “Barbie across cultures” for my Intercultural communications class, so that’s a relief. My Business Combinations Assignment is wrapping up after I help out with the bibliography.. as for my tax assignment.. oh boy.. that’ll take some work and a good amount of help.

I notice that there are a few people in my life who constantly bring up what I’m going to do after accounting. To be honest, it’s really quite draining when they ask me about my progress, and it isn’t the encouraging kind of inquisition - it almost feels like disdain or pity to prop their own situations up.

As for getting help, subconsciously, I know I have a lot of pride, but when it comes to asking for help.. how can you ask for help when you haven’t truly done the work. I can’t stand asking for help when I haven’t put in the work to do so. It’s almost as if I’m going through a subconscious backlash that is preventing me from doing what needs to be done.

I’m not one to lash out, but I feel as if I’m being stretched to the max as I come close to finishing these courses with the thought of just “passing them”. But then again, I’m still aware that I’m making a mountain out of a molehill. Perhaps I’m just being whiny about how I’m not “feeling” the material or that I’m not “passionate” about Accounting or Tax.

While this is a public journal for myself to reflect upon, I implore those who read these posts to KEEP ME ACCOUNTABLE - meaning leave me comments or anything My psychology towards my graduation isn’t the healthiest because in actuality, all I really want to do is just pass so I can move on and get into the CMA Accelerated program and actually LEARN AND REMEMBER accounting material from years ago that, for the life of me, I can’t remember.

And to those who keep on asking me about “How I’m doing with Accounting?” or “How’s the job hunt?” - I’m doing great as I’m going at my own pace and I’d just to add.. Bugger off!

- Will

For those of you who are wondering what improv classes are like, I decided to post some videos of my first performance in front of a live audience. Nerve wracking? Nah, the problem among budding improvisers is performance anxiety and getting out our heads to get to the point where we’re just “being” and feeling the “is-ness” of a scene. While it sounds a bit esoteric, as a beginner improviser each of our sketches abide by these three pillars of improv in order to drive a scene forward: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been putting my articles on hold for the time being so that I can fully focus on “first things first” being my studies so I can graduate and grow from being a student and transition to being an fully fledged “adult”.  Scary, but responsibilities are awaiting me and I can’t avoid it any longer, so I have to take it head on.  Furthermore, my Fitness updates are being put on hold until I’m done.  I’ll probably figure out a way to remain active while in full-throttle study mode.

My efforts in prepping for finals is still taking a backseat due to assignments coming due. I’ve been able to squeeze in a little bit of studying here and there in order to understand Joint Ventures as well as Variable Interest Entities & Segment disclosures, but it isn’t the ideal situation where I can take massive action in order to fully understand the “why” of what I’m studying and map out the relationships of what I’m learning now and connecting it with previously learned concepts in order to get a “bigger picture understanding” of the materials with respect to business combinations.

For Corporate Tax, I’m still clueless as to what the tax sections mean, due to the challenging comprehension issues posed by reading “legalese” in the Canadian Income Tax act. I’ll be looking at it more in depth than ever when the weekend swings around. As my business combinations textbook states, “while studying the trees, we must not lose sight of the forest,” which clearly reflects my situation.

I’ve become more galvanized (notice the proper spelling ) than ever to consolidate my energies towards this final push before graduation.

My efforts have languished over the last week because of several factors in terms of putting strain on my preparation for finals - namely final assignments. Coming down the pipeline, I have a presentation on “Barbie across cultures” for my course in Intercultural Communications as well as a 2000 word book review on “Blockbusters and Trade Wars” due by the end of the month. In addition to that, I have a Corporate Tax assignment and a Business Combinations assignment due at the end of the month, so it’s a whole lot of work that I have to push through, and I can’t afford to snap under this pressure. A shit storm will collide if I don’t pump these assignments out in record time.

Although there were some “hiccups” that have stifled my productivity, by setting an aggressive schedule to finish off assignments by midweek, next week, I’ll have a lot more room to breathe to prepare for finals at least 3 weeks in advance. As a result of this plan for massive action, I’ve put on hold my Toastmasters meetings, leisure reading and full scale workouts.

I’ve got 40 more pages of “Blockbusters and Trade Wars” to knock off before I head to bed . This is an experiment in and of itself, as I’ll post my results of implementing productivity boosting tips for my next entry.

Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to consciously and deliberately reshape your daily experience of life. - Anthony Robbins

Often when we are confronted with a situation or outcome that we feel is undesirable, it’s easy to fall into a negative thought pattern. We dwell on the situation and amplify what is already perceived as “bad”, rather than accept it for what it is and move forward.

It is often a slippery slope that is hard to get off of when we are focused on only the negative and self-created ‘imminent doom’ that awaits us. However, this can all be avoided when you realize that you can instantly break that negative pattern by recognizing that we already have a ‘positivity toolkit’ containing these 12 ways to instantly change your mood. Read the rest of this entry »