For my few loyal readers, I am going on a planned hiatus from this blog. I have quite a bit going on in my life at the moment, and maintaining a blog is indeed something I can do without. The blog as an archive will still exist. Before I go, I have a few observations that could be their own blog posts, but I'll touch on them briefly.A lot of responsibilities and priorities have entered my life, and it's fascinating how much time you actually have if you maintain a schedule. I used to tend to focus on a single task or project, and not do anything else until complete. This had a tendency to burn me out and not be as efficient as I should be. Now I still watch due dates, so something due the next day will grab my entire attention; however, the urgency of getting it done on time reduces the chances of me procrastinating.
I think it's too easy to simply tell someone to have more discipline. The trick is to find a strategy to create more discipline. I wish I could simply have the will to make all of my dreams become reality, but many of my dreams are very big and would take a lot of time, resources, and man power to accomplish. There is no way I could focus on such a task or tasks and ignore everything else. This may not be a grand revelation to some, but working on one of my bigger goals -for say an hour- and then accomplishing one of my smaller goals helps give me a relief and satisfaction of accomplishment.
Now I don't have anything very formal planned like a day planner or anything. I just keep a mental list of tasks that need accomplishing and devote certain nights as a focus to a larger task. For example, Monday night may be for my classes and Tuesday night for family. Also pay note that I treat leisure as a task. This was another trick that I developed. Now I don't feel guilty if I have other tasks to accomplish because I know I have designated time for those other tasks. Of course, time seems to fly when I'm having fun, but I digress.
Today also signifies the completion of my 8 year service obligation to the military. I served a little over 7 years of active duty and the rest on the inactive ready reserve (IRR). While I had some issues with the military, it was overall a very positive experience for me. It helped shape me become the man that I am today. Ultimately, I left the service because I had goals outside of the military I wanted to accomplish, and quite frankly, I wasn't sure how much longer my body could handle the physical stress. Taking that into consideration, leaving the military was a very difficult choice. Despite any issues, I knew the Army would always take care of me.
The Army has a whole transition program which may be a little bloated, but I may only think that because I may have more life experience than a lot of soldiers - particularly the ones who never went to college. I also had a plan when I got out whereas some are just anxious to get out, so that they don't have to wake up for morning formation. Regardless, it's amazing to me how much all of my plans failed when I got out. I had two jobs lined up, and both of them didn't pan out. I still had a house, but my revenue stream wouldn't last me for very long.
The Power of Online Search Tools
The Army was very big on promoting networking sites like LinkedIn, but sites like ZipRecruiter did a much better job in finding me employment. I never really gave these search sites much credit until I left the service. In about a month, I found a job that I have been very happy with. To my brothers and sisters transitioning out of the military, I highly recommend uploading your resume (which hopefully you made in ACAP) to one of these sites.
One last note: Expand your mind
I still enjoy listening to various podcasts. Always learning and listening to our modern philosophers. Ever since I completed those blog posts about the filibuster for my class, the purpose of this blog has been about me writing down the various thoughts that engrossed me over the years. I've cited various podcasts throughout my articles, and it's amazing to me how much this medium has expanded my world view. My faith has been tested so many times, and somehow it perseveres. One thing that I have learned over the years: never deny the possibility of the impossibility.
