Winners never quit and quitters never win
Dear Friend,
Another crazy week of my semester abroad has passed and again I could gain many impressions of the USA. The time here in San Diego is still very exciting. Every day I get to know new people, discover the country a little new and get used to it a little bit more. I can recommend to everyone to visit this city and the state of California for a while and to get an impression of it.
Well, that’s enough about the United States. Let’s get to last week’s learnings.
Don’t give up until you’ve even tried
You know these quotes that are telling you that failing is part of the process and in the long-term only the people who are not afraid of failing and never give up succeed? I fully convinced that this is true, too. I believe, however, that this applies not only to vital things (like founding your own business, quitting your job etc), but also to everyday things.
Last week I booked a travel to Las Vegas (transportation, accommodation, tickets for the attraction… included). The next day after the booking I received the confirmation mail of it. When I read these, I realized that I had booked the trip for exactly the weekend when another trip was due, for which I had booked flights that could not be canceled. In addition to the date, I could also read in the mail that it was not possible to cancel the trip to Las Vegas or change the booking to another available date. Since the trip to Las Vegas as well as the other trip would not be possible in parallel and both cost several hundred euros/dollars, I was shocked and depressed because of my own stupidity.
But as I have become a really problem-solving oriented person since I have been working on my personality, I did not want to leave it at that and had a great desire to overcome this bad situation. As it was pretty early in the morning, the office of the travel agency had not yet been open. Instead of just waiting I thinking about ways to convince the agency to switch my travel to another date. I had like 25 minutes until the agency office opened. In this time window I had many thoughts about the upcoming call with the agency and decided what the best approach would be.
After calling the agency several times (because nobody answered the phone), a sales manager of the agency called me back. As I had already decided for myself, I told him that I was 100% sure that I booked the travel for a different date and that the confirmation mail was different to what I thought I had selected. I told him that I cannot participate in the travel and the ticket would be worthless for me, consequently. Additionally, I argued that I could not afford another ticket and I had always wanted to go to Las Vegas.
After all those arguments which I tried to deliver as friendly and kind as possible, the sales manager said that he is going to switch the date and that under these circumstances he made an exception. A few minutes after the call I received another mail confirming the switched date. You could not believe how happy I was after I accomplished this. This day started pretty bad, but after receiving this confirmation mail I was incredibly happy. I think this incident is a good example that you should never fail to try and take action. Without action, nothing can happen. Regarding this booking issue, I would have spent a relatively high amount of money (for me this is a lot of money) for nothing if I had not tried to convince the agency representative.
I need to admit this is a pretty simple problem and was not the biggest challenge, however, yet a lot people fail to overcome oneself even in such a situation and do not try to tackle the issue. And if you already fail in your daily life to take such a matter, failing at larger issues is more or less guaranteed. Therefore, do not fail to try. Start with the small problems in your life. Tackle these matters as fast as possible. Do not even give yourself time to tell yourself that you could fail or that it is not worth it. Eventually, you can only win if you try.
Make thoughts about where you can find interesting people for you
Another learning I had last week was a pretty valuable one. I was in the gym and was talking to a stranger guy. I got into a really good conversation and had a good connection from the beginning. We could talk about similar topics, had similar interests and it seems to me even a similar set of values. Probably in the coming days we will hang out with each other to continue our conversation and have some fun.
After my workout, something became clear to me: You can meet people almost everywhere, but at certain places there is a higher concentration of certain people. For instance, in a gym you will most likely come across much more people who are interested in sports in general, disciplined, self-confident etc. In contrast to, at dance club it is easier to get to know to people who are interested in partying, dancing, going out etc.
This might sound pretty trivial and in my view is definitely is. However, the implications of realizing that is huge for me: No matter which kind of person/people you are searching for (new people in a new country/city like me, a girl-/boyfriend, potential colleagues, new friends in general), there are certain places where you can find the people of your interest. For example, if you want to find a new partner for your life, you should first think about what you are searching for. Then, after that, go to those places and try to approach people there.
In the 21st century this might not be the easiest way to get to know new people (social networks, dating apps etc). However, the most interesting people I have always found in real life and not on the internet or on an app.
In my case, I am currently searching for some people I can party with. I have already got to know many great people and, for instance, my friends from my home university who are also in San Diego for studying are great people as well. However, all these people do not like to go out as frequent and intense as me. I am a kind of person who enjoys dancing for hours and having a great night till the sun rises. Yet, I could not find people like me here in San Diego.
Due to this learning, I made some thoughts where I can find people that are more like this. In the coming week I will try to find places where I expect to come across them with a higher probability. And eventually, I will go to those places and try to find people to party with.
I really hope that this will work out. No matter how this little experience will work out, I will let you know. This was the learning of last week. Wish you a great week and see you soon.
All the best to you and yours, David
