Door of Opportunity

When you go to college you think about the crazy parties and how much fun you’re going to have. The experiences that you have not met yet, situations you have never been put in, and escaping your parents grasp. You think about the memories you'll make, the friends you'll have, the new life where you can start over from scratch and make it whatever you want. You become the person you want people to see, no matter if it’s being cool, fitting in, or changing the way people perceived you while you were in high school (which could be a negative or positive thing) But what you have to remember is the real reason you decided to come (which you might not have actually realized just yet) and how while attending college that the "new life where you can start over" isn't just for social reasons but for you education and measure of success you will find later in life. 

And it all begins when you step through the Door of Opportunity. You have to realize that you can't live by decisions that affect you in the present, but the decisions that will affect your future. Fraternity parties are something that are as amazing as everyone says and will always remain in your mind. But after college they're just memories. You can't relive them once you graduate. But the actual education you obtain while attending college doesn't look like it will be one of your fondest memories. With all the countless hours of studying, sitting through boring lectures, and then getting a test with only 10 questions that takes 30 minutes to take seems like a real drag. But from the point you graduate until you the last moments before you die the amount of time you spent investing in your studies is what will allow you to look back and smile. And it all begins when you step through the Door of Opportunity. 

You might ask "Door of Opportunity? I thought it was a window?" A window of opportunity is making a choice that will benefit you in the short run. Like getting the last philly cheese steak at the market or buying the tickets for concert at the last possible second, or even deciding to rush a fraternity. Basically a window of opportunity is something that benefits you during the present and will only last for a short period of time. It's something that once you make the decision you can't go back change it if it doesn't work out. College is not a game. You play a game as many times you'd like until you get the results that satisfy you. If you lose, well play again. If you lose at college, you lost at life and the chances of playing college again are minuscule. Losing can be defined as not putting enough effort into your ultimate goal, losing track of what your goal actually is, or looking back and saying "Dang, I'm doing okay with the half ass work I put in (like working hard enough just to score with passing a class or a test). But what if instead of doing what most people do, you do what most people can't do, by going above and beyond. It sets up a challenge outside your classroom, outside of your GPA, your class ranking, or school itself. A challenge only you can take by YOURSELF for YOURSELF. A challenge you accept solely by YOUR self-realization. This defines "going above and beyond" the average person. This, my friends is the Door of Opportunity. I call it the Door because it isn't just a onetime choice. 

Every day you wake up and you can either step through the Door of Opportunity and make a difference in the choices that you make now that will benefit you in the long run pertaining to your education. Or you can choose to not walk through the Door of Opportunity and do whatever you like (the type of things that won't matter when you're 30, 40, 55, 61, or even 89). Every day you wake up you  have that choice, and it will be one of the hardest choices you will make. This is not something you can learn in the classroom, gym, your parents (which partially helps), or even a fraternity (they push for excellence but that doesn't mean you will accept it, many do not). This is something that one day BAM it hits you and it will all make sense. The day you choose to walk through the Door of Opportunity and discard mediocre ideals, forget about now, and begin focusing on the long run. It takes research, initiative, and example to live by this way of life. College in a sense is a test of how far you can push yourself and the duration of how long you will ride out the wave of opportunity in an ocean full of "satisfied actions." Becoming satisfied with what you are doing is the idea accepting where you are and being comfortable with it. (For example, a president is recently elected and quits working hard because he's already made his goal). This will get you nowhere but bottom tier. You have to accept the idea of "Never Truly Satisfied" an idea that no matter how well you are doing it isn't good enough. No matter how much better you are doing than everyone around you, you will still climb higher on the ladder of success, because your success compared to other people doesn't matter, you don't judge your success by comparing it to others, you judge it by how much harder you worked this time compared to your last obstacle. Success is making the best out of every situation to directly contribute to the next goal you set for yourself. In other words achieving, learning what you achieved, and knowing it was the best thing that you could have done to affect your future. People who are successful did what they had to do to become successful. Never truly satisfied and going above and beyond go hand in hand with one another and will guarantee you the success everyone hopes for when they get older. You can't expect to go to college and be successful when you get out of school. Because if you do, you will be just like everyone else. Ed Whitacre didn't become the CEO of two different major companies (GM and AT&T) because he went to college and just graduated. He took the challenge of the Door of Opportunity. Kent Hance didn't become the chancellor of Texas Tech just because he was at the right spot at the same. They made it to where they are by accepting the ideals of going above and beyond and never truly satisfied, putting them on the right track, and forever making great achievements a part of their destiny. Anyone can dream but not everyone can achieve. 

I made my realization while pledging my fraternity, it taught me basic principles to live by, time management, and I credit the leaders of my fraternity who inspired me to be everything I can be. Along with other contributions like boy scouts, my entire family, and things I've experienced. Pledgeship brought me back to the real world and into adulthood. It put me into situations I had never been in, it taught me how to think for myself, and these situations would never have been experienced if I had not rushed. I'm not saying this is the only way to find the path of enlightenment, each individual must find their own way. But I can guarantee you every path involves yourself and education. I learned to be a gentlemen, found out many things about myself I had not known, and learned the characteristics I needed to alter to put me in the position to make the decisions of life I am passing onto you. 

Open your Door of Opportunity and step through it EVERYDAY, and make the best out of every situation EVERYDAY, and EVERYDAY for the rest of your live life by the principles that only encompass success. So that in the last moments of your life, in the very last seconds while decisions you've made your whole life flash before your eyes. You can look at them with a feeling of satisfaction and know you achieved a success far greater than anything you have ever achieved or even dreamed. And then for that last second you can finally and truly be satisfied with what you have done. 

The only thing that comes to the sleeping man are dreams- Tupac

You cannot be what you want to be by following others, you must take the actions that set you apart from the rest, and the only way to do this is by taking the path less traveled by.
It's not cool to look stupid, its not cool to say reading is for nerds or losers. Education is what builds reputation. I hope you read this and take it to heart. You don't want it to be too late and realize you wanted to do something differently. You need to learn how to balance school and your social life. I know guys that make 4.0's and black out every weekend. It is possible to have the best of both worlds. Keep this in mind. You don't realize it yet but one day you will, and when you do. The world will make a little bit more sense. Remember, people tell you look good in a suit. But you’re a kid you only wear suits on formal occasions and other events that you have to wear a suit. Do you want to be a guy that goes to work wearing an outfit closely related to a janitor? Or do you want to wear something that makes you look professional? Wearing a suit, or even just a jacket gives off the essence that you hold power. Are you going to be a MAN that wears the suit to work every day or the guy that wears the company uniform? This may sound a little extreme, but it exhibits how important your decisions right now are. This doesn't just apply to school, it applies to your social life, your relationships of family, peers, or significant others. It applies to everything in your daily life. I challenge you to take the roll in wearing the suit for the rest of your life and stepping through the Door of Opportunity. It’s just the ones who stick with it, are the ones you read about in Forbes and the newspapers