Intellectual History

Throughout my life, education has been especially meaningful in my life. As a young child I looked up to well educated people within my family, and desired the same knowledge and understanding that they had gained through years of earthly experience. While still young I enjoyed studying about history, in particular, and excelled in mathematics. I especially loved studying about the Civil War and sometimes surprised my father, a history teacher, with the knowledge I had gained about that war. I loved to learn new things and strove to get all I could out of elementary school. From an early age I had the desire and set the goal to attend BYU and excel in my academics. Recently I have decided to focus my studies on business and am excited to learn all I can. Though my desires for high achievement have always been very real, many times throughout my academic career I have been distracted by the trivial and unimportant things which have led me to under perform in the areas of lasting import to myself. The greatest of my problems, leading through high school and up into college, was that of procrastination. Procrastination, a word I particularly despise and a word I hear with disdain. One word that describes a poor habit that leads to regrets, and like sin, leads literally to pain and disappointment. Many times I have disappointed myself and others because I just did not manage my time properly and let slip by precious opportunities to learn. Since returning from my mission I have come to see the importance of, "not procrastinating" the day of our repentance. Time management has become extremely important in my life. If I do not take control of my life others will. Habits form who we are and what we become. Man is a creature of habit and habits have the same ability to propel us to reach our goals, or to strangle the time and opportunities that we have. Thus my goal for this semester is to make it habit to plan my weekly and daily schedule, focusing on those things that are most important to my life. As I cultivate this habit daily, it will force me to remember my goals and aspirations. I must capture every opportunity that I have and strive to make every day worth while.