Southwestern Advantage Blog

Several generations ago, during one of the most turbulent of the desert wars in the Middle East, a spy was captured and sentenced to death by a General of the Persian Army. The General, a man of intelligence and compassion, had adopted a strange and unusual custom in such areas. He permitted the condemned person to make a choice. The prisoner could either face the firing squad or pass through the Black Door.  As the moment of execution drew near, the General ordered the spy be brought before him for a short, final interview, the primary purpose of which was to receive the answer of the doomed man to the query: "What shall it be - the firing squad or the Black Door?" This was not an easy decision and the prisoner hesitated, but soon made it known that he much preferred the firing squad to the unknown horrors that might wait for him behind the ominous and mysterious door. Not long thereafter, a volley of shots in the courtyard announced that the grim sentence had be...

The following is a paraphrased version of a blog (edited for our audience), originally found on cracked.com. This particular post, written by NYT best-selling author Jason Pargin (aka David Wong ), shares so many similar things that Southwestern Advantage teaches our student reps, we wanted to share a few of his thoughts with our audience. Enjoy. Start doing things that will make yourself become the type of person people want to be around. This is a first step that is nearly always skipped. People ask "How do I get a great job?" and not "How do I become the type of person employers want to hire?" Guys ask "How do I get pretty girls to like me?" instead of "What can I do to become the type of person that pretty girls like?" Maybe the reason is because that second question in both scenarios will very well require facing fears, giving up comforts, and changing your attitudes in life. "But why can't people just like me for me?...

feel the fear and do it anyway. there are so many things that we DO NOT do in our lives, simply because we are scared. we let fear take over our rational minds and cripple our progress. what are we scared of? failure. rejection. loss of a job. loss of money. loss of reputation. really dig down to the root of these fears, and then identify which of them are actually realistic, rational, plausible reasons why you should not say or do something. the reality is -- few of them are real.  it's been said that fear is an acronym that stands for ' false evidence appearing real '. fear is a normal human emotion. everyone deals with it. but as we mature we need to recognize the difference between rational fears (running from a hungry momma bear) and ir rational fears (people will think less of me if i fail). Michael Jordan said that persevering through his many failures (facing his fears) was the reason that he succeeded .  go for the promotion. ask that cute girl out. run ...