College Motivator #73: Live Life with No Regrets, but...

COLLEGE LIFE MOTIVATOR

#73

Live life with no regrets but understand the consequences of your decisions.  Your professors should understand that you need to miss class to attend a job interview.  However, you will still be responsible for getting class notes and making up any required work.

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Know the consequences of no regrets.

I had a student who said there was a “pie in the sky” casting call for some production, but it meant getting in line and waiting for hours at a downtown hotel.  And missing my class.

I simply told her that she could go, but was responsible for getting class notes from a fellow student.  I believe in going after opportunities, even when it means sometimes doing the irresponsible thing, like telling a professor that you need to ditch class for a pipe dream of a chance at something big.

I learned that lesson as a law student, when I was clerking at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  A movie was being filmed downtown starring Robert Redford, and they needed extras to fill up an old minor league baseball stadium.  Instead of playing on green grass, I did the responsible thing by going to work that day.

Years later, every time I see The Natural, I say to myself: “If only I called in sick that day.”  Thankfully, this is a minor regret.  It serves as a lesson to me about risk taking and understanding the consequences.  Be a risk taker in your college life, but know where to draw the foul line.