http://bigsendworld.com

I am taking an AMAZING class on sociology that has been giving me entirely new perspectives on life. The class also stresses objectivity and the understanding of others' ideas and "realities". Yes, this class talks heavily about "realities" and it is very much directly related to lots of inner-game material.

Anyway I wrote an essay about communism based off of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". If you have read the book, or know a bit about Huxley, you'd know he is anti-communist and B.N.W. reflects that.

Anyway, my essay is anti-communist. My thesis is "Communism doesn't work because it goes against the human nature to be competitive." I also go on to say that Marx's axiom "humans are basically creative" is true, but not the whole picture. I personally believe humans are creative but also want their creation to be the best. (hence competition)

Either way, (whether or not I am right or if you disagree) I do back up my paper with all the relevant information.


Unfortunately, the grader is a pro-communist scholar! I received a D!!

However, my AWESOME T.A. (teaching assistant) who also happens to be super hot, super smart, super nice, and just over all awesome couldn't believe I got a D. She went over my paper on her own and realized the original grader did not even read half my paper after my thesis! The original grader just X'd out half my paper for almost no reason other than personally disagreeing with my topics.

My T.A. objectively raised my grade to an A!

Man, I love my T.A. if I could sarge her legitimately, I so would. (Instead I think I'll buy her a Barns and Noble's gift certificate or something like that)


This goes to show though... even in what seemed to be the most objective class, people out there will go against you if you challenge their values. I have seen this phenomena almost everywhere. When you go against someone else's "reality" the other person may go on the defensive---this is usually a sign of insecurity, but in a sense it kind of proves my thesis on human nature. People want their ideas/beliefs to be the most popular.

But it is a lesson. Recently I had a falling out with some people because of, for the most part, a clash of views. If I had taken more of Dale Carnegie's' advice (click here), I'd know that challenging values is a No-No for winning people over. Regardless, I would like to be 100% honest. Not being honest with one's self and expressing feelings is a terrible way to live.

As my roommate suggested, you got to have friends you can be honest with and express yourself with. Most people out there can't handle opposing views (hell I am one of them sometimes hehe) so being understanding and supportive can take a lot of energy. I need friends whom I can be honest with.

Anyway, from now on, I'll be sure to double-check my thesis with the professor just to be sure. I am so lucky I have an objective T.A. to help me out like this. Through life (bosses, administrators, etc) I may not have an objective third-party to help me out. It feels SOOO good when they are there, but I must learn to calibrate how I express my values in certain arenas.

Some PU theory states that we need to be very solid and direct about our identity, but the truth is most people out there are insecure (my self included, though I am working hard to alleviate that). Since most people are insecure, going against their views will cause a clash. Even though people do get on the defensive, Dale Carnegie does speak of ways to remedy it. One must look at the world from the other person's perspective first before expressing personal views.


On another happy note, I got a job!!

Last night at 7pm I interviewed at my Universities Call Center for calling alumni and asking for donations. Ulysses (good friend and wing man) did this same program and told me how it helped with his phone game to a large degree. So when I interviewed for the job, I was VERY excited and, knowing about rapport (from PU) and reading Dale Carnegie's book (linked to the side) I made a great impression. I was able to answer all of the interviewer's scenarios.

For example, he asked, "What would you do if you call someone is very resistant to donate because his daughter got rejected. How would you deal with that."
And from digging up Carnegie's theory, I responded that I would acknowledge the father's concern and talk about how I would feel exactly the same way. Then I would go on to say that the fault of her not being accepted has to do with lack of funding and that our acceptance rate was reduced by a large percentage because of this. I would go on to say that the money would only help future generations and perhaps his grandchildren.

Well through using Carnegie's model, I fucking OWNED that interview. The guy originally said he'd call me back in a day or two. Instead, he called me back in one hour!


So I'll start that work as soon as I can get into the training program. The next training program is Wednesday which cuts right through one of my last classes which I can't miss. But I'll get to it eventually.


Anyway besides that things are going great with these affirmations (the 70x7, click here). I go through weird ups and downs but overall my life is getting so much happier. I am excited about the future and no longer worried. I'm serious, I am now excited to become an engineer because with these social skills I am developing, it could win me a position in management communicating with the marketing department. You see, most engineers have 0 social skills (no offense, I was once like that). But if I develop these skills it could separate me from the rest of the engineers.


Another thing I have been doing is turning my back on the negativity in my life. A bunch of guys I know who set up a forum online, whom I once was friends with and supported turned very negative (from my point of view) and I had to let it go.

One of the steps in this journey is to get rid of negativity in your life. Ultimately, if I had ultra-tight inner game, nothing would really affect me (e.g.: other people's opinions), but for now I need to get rid of negativity and only surround myself with positive and encouraging energy. If one can help it, there is no reason to be around negative, second class behavior. Life is too short for that crap.

There is a concept of tough-love, which has its place---like, if a child breaks something worth like $1000 or gets into a life/death situation or what-not, then we need to instill tough-love maybe.

(Which is also why I only wing with the most positive and encouraging guys I can find.)

Posted by BigSend on Tuesday, March 07, 2006 at 3/07/2006 06:37:00 PM | Permalink