Gotta write my own list.

I don't know about you engineers, but choosing courses as a liberal arts student can be a painful process. We actually have some choice in what we take, and for an indecisive person like me with a general interest in pretty much everything.. it can get pretty frustrating.

While I need to take courses that will get me through my program I also just really, really want to take a bunch of courses that just sound cool and interesting. But of course to make things even more difficult, I have reached the point where I am questioning my entire program and why I am in it. How typical of me.

I grabbed my friend for some advice while I was at the cafe and he said some interesting things. This man is very wise, but halfway through his talks I end up questioning whether he even remembers the original question. Regardless of if he really answered my question or not, I found what he told me insightful so I thought I'd share:

Think of each of the courses you take as an investment. 
Of course, you could think this way about your program or your university degree in general, but for the purposes of simplicity we'll just consider a single university course.

Ask yourself the following questions and try to find the balance:
1. What is the return on this investment? Employable skills? Good grades?
2. What makes me happy?
3. What is the purpose in my life that I am trying to fulfill with my education?
    a) employment
    b) achieve financial freedom
    c) intellectual fulfilment
    d) to delay a reality check

He went on to point this out: "Look how the question of happiness is right in the middle on the list. It's the key balancing point."

He does have a tendency to elevate things to a grandiose level, but talking to him got me to face the questions that I hate having to answer. I don't think I've ever been able to answer these questions with answers that were fully my own. Especially the third one... the answer to that was always automated as answer a) which would eventually lead to b). Why? I'm a pro at second-guessing myself and my parents want me to follow the tried and true path to "success" in life.

Oh hai Mr Drew Dudley and Glendon LeaderShapers :D

Here's the thing though; I think I'm ready to write my own list. I heard a talk by the wonderful Drew Dudley yesterday and one of the things he said was that everybody needs to write their own list. That point really struck me because it's basically the same message that I've been hearing for the last two months, over and over again. My friend jokingly said this yesterday, but I think it really is a sign.



I've still got a lot to figure out and I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all of this, but somehow I'm still super excited for our TEDxYorkU event this Thursday and I've got the rest of my second year of university to wrap up...

Screw Game of Thrones. Summer is coming.