On Studying

I am currently studying hard for a math exam tomorrow that is the final and biggest exam in my career at PSU. To study, you need to get in the zone. I play light music on my headphones, something like Norah Jones, and just go to town! GET AWAY FROM COMPUTERS!!!!!! (I am leaving this computer ridden building in a minute.) 

I believe you can learn all the information in a very quick time. The key to taking an exam is getting enough sleep the night before because you learn in your sleep. Do not study within an hour before the exam and do whatever you can to relax and be confident. That is half the battle. I have been at my best when I go into an exam telling myself that I know everything (whether I do or do not.) I utilized this system to its fullest potential when I hit Dean's List this time last year.

Happy Studying and Good Luck!!

On Crunch Time

During a time period in which you have to really push yourself to get results, it is important to step up to the challenge and face it head on. I have to admit, I have not done this during many opportunities to do so, but it unleashes your full potential and pushes you through a period of rapid growth. Once you realize you are capable of doing more than you give yourself credit for, you begin to truly excel at a higher level.

We see this many times in sports where a player breaks out during the playoffs and elevates their performance to another level. What typically happens is this performance allows them to raise themselves to a higher level in the following season because they have unlocked a new potential for themselves.

Accept crunch times or push weeks as a growth period and you can grow faster than most people around you. Challenge yourself to become truly REMARKABLE!

On Leaders In Movies

First, I just want to establish that Simba is the lion version of Batman. Think about it.

Ever since I began my quest on studying leadership, I began watching movies in a new light. We can learn very important leadership lessons by characters such as Simba and Batman (and Mufasa). I encourage you to watch movies in the light of finding what leaders do to bring the most benefit to their people and lead them in the right direction. Mufasa mentions in Lion King that there is more to being king than getting everything you want. You must sacrifice. You must sacrifice more than anybody else in your kingdom sacrifices. You have to understand all the different sources, listen to your advisors, even if they are as annoying as Zazu. You have to be brave only when you need to be brave. And you need to use emotions such as fear, anger, and joy the right way.

I have learned much from leaders in movies. Many of them portray the precise attributes you want as a leader. This is why we idolize them in movies. If we can learn from them, it can be nearly as effective as learning from real-life leaders that many times you do not have the ability to analyze.

On Visualization

*I love how I am taking a final exam as this is being published onto my blog.*

I have been developing the visionary side of my thoughts for a couple years now. I am naturally gifted at visualizing the future and I love my ability to plan a way to get there as well. I have a few tips on how to develop your visionary strengths:

1. In the shower, think of the future. I not only think of the future, I actually embrace myself in the future and act as if I am in it whilst talking out loud, even passionately. This really exercises my visionary muscles and since I shower every morning, it really helps me get going every day and helps me practice consistently.

2. Think about anything in the future, ranging from yourself to the world. If you practice by envisioning flying cars and light saber kitchen cutlery, then that would be awesome. If you practice by seeing yourself running a multi-billion dollar charitable organization to help aid inner-city schools, then that works as well.

3. Give a speech that you would see yourself giving in the future. (This is one of my showering exercises.) I am about to open an office for Vector and I often give speeches that I would do at team meetings. This helps you not only visualize what you will become, but also goes a step further allowing you to be there already. All while helping you practice public speaking, which I have developed greatly from failing the final speech of my speech class to becoming a good reliable presenter in class presentations. (Thank you, Vector)

Visualization is extremely powerful in driving yourself towards attaining your life's purpose. It not only allows you to immerse yourself in the future, but it also tells your subconscious mind where you want to go, allowing it to show you the way.

Visualize BEING REMARKABLE and you can do remarkable things!

On Experts

It takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in something! So many people see the end result of people like The Beatles, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. and immediately believe these people must have genius imbedded into their DNA. Behind all these wildly successful people were most likely over 10,000 hours of practice in what they did BEFORE they became successful.

The Beatles, for example played at a bar in Hamburg, Germany for 8 hours straight every day for a few years. Then they returned to the United Kingdom and swept the nation. Before leaving the UK, they were a pretty awful disgrace of musicianship. However, after playing together for so many hours, they became masters of their sound. Bill Gates was fortunate enough to be one of the only kids around computers while he grew up, and he sat in front of them for hours on end. Steve Jobs would assemble things, use do-it-yourself kits, etc. Mark Zuckerberg would program on computers for fun while growing up.

None of these people were born geniuses. Maybe they are smarter than some people naturally, but their success comes as a by-product of practice... for HOURS!

Letters behind your name does not make you an expert in your field. Practice does. Countless 10,000 hours of practice.

The Do Good Campaign

I will be starting something with my office called the "Do Good Campaign" where every Sunday we go out and give back to the community somehow. I love giving! I think everybody should do some giving every week not only to help others, but also to help your own wellbeing! It feels great to give. You don't need to change the world. Just at least go out of your way to do something for one person. Daily is ideal, but baby steps are awesome so start off weekly if you don't give often.

A few basic ways to give:
-Thank your friends and family
-Hold the door for somebody who may be at an uncomfortable distance
-Greet people who do every day service tasks. i.e. bus driver, janitor, etc.
-Pick up trash and throw it out

Happy givings!

On Learning

Many of my friends, and myself, are crash studying for finals right now. I am amazed by how much I learn in the few days for finals. It is almost as if I learn just as much, or even more, than I have learned all semester. I think this is because during the semester, I lose sight of how to learn.

You must learn as if the next day, you must turn around and teach this material thoroughly to a new class. If you adopt this mindset towards learning, it will increase your efficiency with learning and allow you to really learn at an amazing rate. When I study for finals, I study with the intent of teaching this material. I know if I can teach the material, then I will be ready for the exam.

Good luck on finals for all those taking finals!

On Social Media

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
-Ephesians 4:29 
Learn to speak only kind things :)

This was my friend, Holly's status, and it made me think about some of my newer philosophies on social media. I remember my division manager, John Wasserman, challenged us to try to make Facebook a positive influence on people.

We should practice putting things on Facebook that will only add value to others. I tend to use motivational videos, TED talks, my blog posts (highly encouraged for you to share my blog posts), and quotes. My Facebook page is essentially a giant personal growth wall. I encourage you to do the same. You may just help somebody out there even if they don't tell you.

On Boundaries

"We predefine our boundaries."
-Christian Gouse

I personally believe every person on Earth was born to do great things. However, we set our limits as we grow based on what society tells us to set our limits to. The vast majority of people live an unremarkable life so they can have a safe job with a home. However, a person should constantly challenge themselves to improve so they truly have no boundaries at all.

The only boundaries you have are the ones you create. Nothing is impossible: I'm possible.

On College Degrees

A college degree is, indeed, important in society today. It represents the skill set one has acquired during 4 (or 5) years of college. However, I do not find it to be necessary. Often times, a young college student does not even realize what he/she wants to do for a living and graduates with a degree they do not even want to pursue. It is more important to acquire a growth mindset (Mindset by Carol Dweck is an amazing book). Most people are trained to have a fixed mindset (if I do not get a college degree, I will not get a high paying job). What one needs is a growth mindset (if I fail to get a college degree, how can I show that I have a good enough skill set to work?) The reason people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, etc. really excelled and changed the world despite having no fancy collegiate document to show their skill set is because they believed they could do it and they needed to figure out how.

Important but Not Necessary: college degree.
Necessary: Growth Mindset

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." -Benjamin Franklin

On Truth

"The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Just let it loose and it will defend itself."
-St. Augustine.

Honesty and Integrity are possibly the two strongest characteristics one can have. Not just honesty and integrity with others, but also with yourself. These traits can be the most powerful forces when driving yourself through life. Others will trust you whole heartedly.

I also honestly believe that lying severely damages relationships. It may be nothing at first but lies can build up and cripple a relationship, even if the other person doesn't know you ever lied. You know. And subconsciously, that will damage you and your relationships.

Top CEO's unanimously voted on honesty as the number one trait needed to rise in the rankings of a company. Honesty builds influence with others and allows you to truly lead.

Just because you are good at something...?

I recently watched an ESPN 30 for 30 film called The Marinovich Project. I highly recommend it. For those who do not know, Marinovich was one of, if not, the biggest bust in NFL history. He was a QB with perfect form, conditioning, and knowledge of the game. He was raised by his father under the perfect conditions to become an amazing QB. And then, he began to lose his life to drugs and lost his will to play in the NFL. Once he reached the NFL, he asked himself "Now what?" He had nothing left to aim for in football. He accomplished his father's dreams.

He collapsed because he struggled to answer the question that he posed in the documentary, "just because you are good at something, does that mean you have to do it?"

The answer is no.

Jim Collins established that what you do in life should fall inside three circles.

Circle #1: What am I good at? Do something you are good at so you can add value to something someway.

Circle #2: What would people pay me to do? Just because I am good at listening to music does not mean people would pay me to do it. We all need money.

Circle #3: What do I love to do? This is what Marinovich missed in his life and he saw drastic consequences. I, myself, during 4 years at PSU struggled with this. Just because I am good at engineering and I would be paid to do it, does that mean I was born to become an engineer?

What you do in your life must satisfy all three of these circles to truly live a fulfilling life.

On Energy

I just went to Dunkin Donuts this morning to grab a quick bite to eat since I did not eat the most important meal of the day, breakfast, and knew I should eat something. So I picked donut (unhealthy decision). Anyways, I noticed about 15 people who already ordered waiting for coffee and the line to order was extremely long. I could not help but wonder if it was sad that so many people rely on coffee to really have energy throughout the day.

I remember asking a fellow District Manager, Ben Skowronek, while I was training, "how do you keep up your energy throughout the entire day?" Being a DM at Vector is exactly like running your own start-up company. And for those who are entrepreneurs out there, you know owning a company requires you to work much more during the day. So this was an important question to me. He told me while pointing to his head, "it is all up here."

Coffee, energy drinks, large doses of caffeine in whatever form may give your body the short term energy it needs, but if you really want long sustained energy, you need to love what you do.

Passion is the healthy fuel for energy, and it is more effective and more efficient than coffee.

Renaming the Blog

The name of the blog has changed from Triumphant Tim to Purple Pages. The reasoning for this is an exercise we did in our Six Sigma Methodology class (it was the last day and no more Six Sigma was to be covered). Our teacher, Dr. Harriet Nembhard, shared with us how she jots down her ideas on life. She will write something down on a purple page and make a book of purple pages. She chose purple because the quote:

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."
-Alicia Walker, The Color Purple

Seth Godin noted that if you see a cow, you do not stop to notice it. It is boring. Everybody has seen a million cows. But if you saw a purple cow, you would stop and marvel. This is because it is remarkable. That is, worthy of a remark.

I want this page to be about being remarkable. And so, I went from my selfish "Triumphant Tim" title to the remarkable "Purple Pages."

On Being Positive

Being positive is the best possible thing that you can do in your everyday life (I know sometimes it easier said than done.) I decided to post this because I was just talking to an awesome friend of mine, Samantha, who works at Hooters (yeah, she is a boss) and she said "I always go in with a positive attitude. I feel like if I'm happy and smiling, it'll be contagious." This is an amazing philosophy in life. I know I have had some tremendous friends in my life who walk in a room and immediately every person in the room becomes happy.

Now, caution, being negative is contagious as well. If you are leading a team and you are negative, you can really neg out the whole team. So being positive is the key to great relationships and making everything out of what you do in life (like if you were a waitress at Hooters).

On Attire

Why do people always wear clothes that make them fit in? Is it their fear that if they do something strange, it will not work out?

Do something different at an occasion. Wear a bow tie. Wear a top hat.  Wear suspenders. Wear purple sneakers. Do something a bit unusual and people will love it because you are not afraid to stand out.

(Also I am color blind so I rarely ever actually match in my daily life.)

Be Remarkable. That is: Worthy of a Remark.

On Failure

I find it essential to start with failure. Nobody likes to fail and I will be the first to admit that it is extremely tough to fail. But you have to realize that failure is a necessary predecessor of success. As a matter of fact, I will go as far as to say that the number of failures a person has in life can predict the amount of success they will also experience.

This is not to say go risk everything you have worked for to pursue your passions and dreams as a really passionate music listener since you are so good at listening to music, you should be paid to do it. Take calculated risks. Income is important but if you need to take a pay cut to do what you truly love. Then do it and try to master that task!

The only true way to learn if something works is to try something and see if it fails and if it does fail, then try to improve it.

Introduction

I think a cool, quick, fast, easy introduction would be awesome for my first post.

My name is Tim Fenning, I am the District Manager for Vector Marketing in Center City, Philadelphia (open shop in a couple weeks!) I am about to graduate from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering. I am ready to go out into the world and CRUSH LIFE!

So a little background on me: I am a different person. I am quite remarkable and often times when people get to know me, they find that I have this weird ability to make fun of myself more than anybody else can make fun of me. I am just too easy of a target!

Also, key things:
-big Dr. Seuss fan
-Wall-E is the greatest movie ever
-I try to improve myself daily through reading books from people much wiser than I
-Big Philly sports fan, in particular, the Flyers as I am an ice hockey player myself
-And yes, chess is a sport

Now, let's get this blog ROLLING!