Coming Down The Final Stretch

I have a lot going on in my life these days. I am in school, practicing disc golf daily, being the best dad ever, working to progress in my career with someone doing their best to stop me from doing just that, and preparing to welcome my son to the world. In the next few weeks I will begin my capstone project for my Master's, be playing in the North Dakota State Disc Golf Championships, and finding out the results on some career defining changes. It may be down to the final stretch, but now is just as important as the beginning.

When I was younger I would often fizzle out near the finish and force myself to cram last second. With a child and a full-time job, I can't do that anymore. So, I've become much better at managing my time. First up is my disc golf tournament. I have three weeks until the tournament, so I am pushing hard. I have been tracking my scores, working on my throw, practicing putting and getting about 4-5 rounds a week. It may seem like a lot, but I honestly do hope to play as a pro one day, so I need to be consistent in my play. I started out focusing completely on my score, but now I mostly focus on my form and disc/shot selection because they play the same at each course. I'm getting to the point where I am much more consistent and when I have a bad throw I know why it happened. Just need to keep this going for the final few weeks and play my game at States. States only has two divisions, so I will be playing above my current skill range. Most people like to play down a division to pad their stats, but I want to test myself and see how my hard work will translate.

School is a whole different animal. At Bowling Green I fizzled near the end because I just wanted to be done. The same goes for my time at Oakland, even though I left before completing my degree. But not this time. You can see an unofficial transcript below. I have a 3.94 GPA and I am very proud of it. I don't want all my hard work to be spoiled by just making it past the final stretch. I want my last piece of work to be my best piece of work. I want to be able to hold my little worthless piece of paper in my hand and know that I put my best effort into earning that piece of paper. I want the final stretch to have the same drive and determination of the first class. Just like with my disc tourney, it's about consistency. You can give 110%, but if you only give 110% for 50% of the time, then you aren't really accomplishing what's possible.

It all goes back to being a dad and what that has taught me. My daughter needs my best at all times. She deserves my best at all times. I have found myself doing more every day to try and be a better father, husband and employee. It's possible in a few weeks I could find out my entire career path is changing, but that doesn't mean I have let up at all with my current situation. I am still doing my best to make my office better and leave it in a better place than I found it. That's what leaders do.

I know this post was really all over the place, but it mirrors my daily life right now, all over the place. I'm about to turn 29 and I am learning how little I knew in life when I was in my late teens and early twenties, but if you asked me back then I would have said I had it all figured out. Life begins when you're almost 30. Being a kid was great, but I love being this age. I have the utmost faith that I am heading in the right direction and putting it all out there, but even if I fail I have a beautiful family that loves and supports me and a savior that knows what's best. I just need to do my part and keep the faith.