I HATED SCHOOL

I hated school. There I said it. I said what almost every student thinks and how they feel each time they wake up at 6am so they can be at school by the time class starts. My youngest daughter is actually up at 5:30am getting dressed, putting together her own lunch all while hollering at me to hurry so I can drive her to her “job.” When she arrives home she’ll watch a little TV then its homework. Supper time allows her a little break but then she is right back at it until bed time, which for her is about 8:30ish. No wonder she dreads Mondays through Fridays. I did to, except I wasn’t near as studious as her. For me I enjoyed being at school to see all my buddies but those dang classes got in our way. As a result I was an average student scooting by on barley enough. Not my daughters, for which I am both grateful and extremely proud.

As I get older, though, I realize what I missed by not being a student. To me it was a classification of what I was but it wasn’t who I was. It’s that distinction that kept me from being as successful as I could have been. I still may have never been Valedictorian or Salutatorian but I certainly could have done better, perhaps even have earned some scholarships for college. I was content to show up and just fill the seat until I got to see my buddies between classes. If I could go back with what I know now, things would certainly be different. I would have studied more played less, well maybe not played less certainly loafed less. Making better use of my time.

I have now applied that “study more loaf less” concept to my work as an entertainer. I still like hanging out with my buddies or sit on a boat fishing but it all has its place. Because if it doesn’t I will remain a no name comic among other no name comics all of us hanging out talking about when we “make it” not really doing what it takes to get where we want to go. Too many of us take our good time high school/college living into our career life then wonder why some make it and we don’t. This came home to me a while back when I was hanging out with a comic who got “the call.”

We were all hanging out when this comic was invited by a friend of ours to come over to the house to watch sports. A great invitation. Food, drinks and sports on TV how could you turn this down? Not to mention the opportunity to hang out with a great friend he’s not seen in a while. What would your response have been? If you’re like most of us you would have said, “I’ll be there as soon as I get up and shower.” Not this comic. He simply declined the invite. He wanted to go. He wanted to spend the day watching football but there was something more pressing, his career. In order for him to reach his goals, he needed to chill in his hotel room, alone, to write. To be creative. To prepare. To research. Because he knows to reach his goals, he needs to be a student and that requires some sacrifices.

Every successful entertainer, CEO or sports figure is a student. They are a student of their craft. They know sacrifices will need to be made in order to be in the top of their class. Do they play? Do they loaf or have down time? Of course they do. The difference is knowing when play time is and it’s not all the time. They realize the need for rest and when it’s the proper time. This is the mark of successful students.

Hello. My name is Vic. I’m a student.