The key action items are:
Always
Be
Closing
Essentially, anyway. Alec Baldwin’s Glengarry Glen Ross monologue is an apt stand-in for what Kyn and I actually decided on:
Find the home run (accomplishment)
Take charge (leadership)
Be proactive
Kyn has put some accountability on the menu, and he is hungry for results!
We decided these items would need to be executed inside the office and out.
In the office: find a complex and brag-worthy project and push for more responsibility and exposure… All the while keeping in mind the overriding guiding principle: it all has to fit the story.
More on that in a bit.
Outside of work: I need to be taking leadership, effecting change, and once again finding that brag-worthy story.
So, we got that figured out. And now that the fire’s lit where it’s been needed most, it’s time to set out and actively swing at those home runs. Which makes me realize that it’s good having Kyn (and all of you) watching me do this. No one likes watching someone strike out… and that’s some GOOD motivation.
By the way, Kyn gave me an awesome piece of life advice that rings so true for MBA applications: I need to find a problem that needs a solution, and then solve it, rather than be a solution needing a problem. For me this is the contrast between being actively helpful (“this school could really use a mentorship program, here is my idea in a written action plan”) versus being passively helpful (“I’ll do whatever you need me to do, just let me in!”). So the former is what we’re looking for, not the latter.
Keeping that (and eeeeverything else) in mind… I’ve (still) got a lot of work to do.
Axoltol (not his real name, folks) will be blogging about his application journey from start to acceptance. Follow along here.