Well first of all and probably the most important thing to keep in mind is to not procrastinate! In fact I have had all week to write this letter but instead I have waited till 1:30 am on the night before it is due to start writing it. So Do Not Procrastinate!! Now when I say not to procrastinate I am in no way implying that you should just jump right into everything head first without considering at least a majority of the consequences/reactions that will happen because of your actions. One of the many engineers that built the Panama Canal was quoted as saying: “If I had five minutes to solve a problem I would spend three of the five minutes deciding on the best way to solve the problem and the remaining two minutes actually solving it”. Never be afraid to stop and consider what will happen if you continue with what you are doing, and to think before you act. In what I just said it should be noted I do not mean that a person should stop everything they are doing and think about every possible situation and scenario that could happen and what to do if it does happen. For in doing that they are usually considered to be paranoid and will get none, to very little actual work done hence defeating the entire point. Also according to Murphy’s law you will not think of/plan for the one event that will happen. There is a line to be walked it is a wide line so it is easy to stay on but you can still fall off.

Now we have come to the section on work!! Oh Boy!! Now it seems like every week I have someone else sharing with me his or her theory on how to be a good worker. With you being at the same grade level as me I am sure that you are having a lot of people sharing their work ethics. With most people if you say you have to go to “work” or your “job” they take it to mean the same thing. “Work” being something that is not fun but you do anyway because it earns you money. Well in reality everything we do is work - sleeping, eating they both burn calories. School work, driving a car, and playing on the Play Station 2 are all work. Even writing this letter is work. It is just how you look at it. It can be fun work like driving and playing computer games or it can be not so fun work like scrubbing a toilet or taking a test at school (although I once new I kid that loved to scrub the toilets where he worked. He liked to see what he could find in them but he tripped way too many times). I do not consider writing this letter to be work I consider it to be fun in a way because I always like to see what I come up with and due to the subject it should be some good stuff.

My grandfather told me that in order to be a good worker I must learn to enjoy work in all its forms. That means that if my job is to scrub out shitters with a toothbrush then I must learn to enjoy it (that will be the day). An older gentleman that I met at a Flying Aces Meet told me “The thing to do is to go get into a good school like Harvard and take up something like law. Then while you are in college join the military and go into JAG and then retire after 10 or 20 years of service. You will then have a great record to go out and get a real job.” (There’s a good one, like I am going to spend all that money just to go into the military!).

The last time I saw a good family friend, Stanley, he gave my dad and me his advice on how to be successful in life. In his speech he brought up some of the best points that could be brought up in a conversation of this nature. It was actually a question, “What are you working for in life? Are you going to go out and get a job so that you can start putting some money away in the bank so that you can buy a house? Then you get promoted so you go out a by a little bit nicer car. You put more money away in the bank. Then you get promoted again so you get a nicer house and a nicer car. Now you retire and you get yourself your dream house and your BMW. Then you die and it is all sold off and/or goes to your kids. What have you left on this earth that will make you be remembered or what have you done to make it a better place to live? Nothing! You were just one more, rich snob who did nothing but make money so he could have a nice house and car when he died. Nice life Huh?” Stanley believes that one should go out and start their own company doing something that they like doing. Be their own boss and make something of them selves. By running your own business you are supporting the areas around you and making a name for yourself so you will be remembered.

Now as you can see those are three very different views on how one should work. Which one is the right one? Is there a right one? Well in my opinion, no there is not a right answer as to how you should go through life after all it is your life. However I do have some recommendations to help make it more enjoyable!

Now regarding working again. You must answer a few questions to decide how you want to pursue your working career.

First what do you want to do?

Do you want to retire and if so at what age?

So you want to drive an $80000 car or will an $1800 one like my Mom’s be fine?

How about the house - $100000 or $500000? Or an apartment or do you just want to travel around?

How long do you think you will live? Are you going to work yourself so hard that it will cut your life short? Is it worth it?

Do you want to work for a short amount of time and then just go and have fun or work forever at something that is fun?

The way that you answer these questions will determine how you will want to pursue your working life.

If you want to be a truck driver than you will probably will not have a house and you will not be driving a BMW but you might own your own rig. You won’t be retiring at an early age but you will have a job that takes you all over the country. If that is what you are looking for, then you have it made.

If you want to make a lot of money and retire early and then go have fun for the rest of your life, then maybe you should try something like being a lawyer.

But whatever you are doing make sure you are having fun doing it. Now you can be paid enough to forget about how much you hate your job, though that usually does not last.