Be a better person than you were yesterday

When I first returned to college in the fall of 2011, it was with the intent of failing. The bishop of my church had been talking to me for years about going to college and turning my life around and I eventually decided to go with the purpose of showing him I was incapable of succeeding. I was afraid, I let fear cloud my judgment on most things and I most definitely did not want to interact with other people – it was safe to say I was afraid of life.

Now, six semesters later, not only have I earned an associate’s degree, but I am currently working toward my bachelor’s. My philosophy changed my first semester when I realized life was not so much about success or failure, but more about being a better person than I had been yesterday. Failure is inevitable and mistakes are one way we learn, but if we constantly strive to be better each day, success will eventually follow.

Many times we become creatures of habit – we see our shortcomings and instead of trying to overcome them, we accept them. If we have a troublesome subject in our classes, we usually accept that we’re not good at it and our goal becomes simply passing; we sometimes dismiss the idea that we could excel with a few changes in habit. Trying new study techniques – relating the topic to a subject we better understand, study groups or even bringing up some tidbit of information from class during casual conversation with a friend – could change our outcome.

It is all about our desire to become better and what lengths we are willing to go to to be our best. And this doesn’t just apply to classes, but to all facets of life. In the workforce, in our relationships with friends and family, even in our health, this philosophy can be applied.

As humans we will never be perfect, but we must strive for that perfection. Don’t settle for the person you are today when tomorrow you could be so much more.