Incredibly, we are now towards the end of finishing week two of semester two – I think I am not the only one asking – how did this happen?! I literally cannot believe that semester one is done and dusted, the Christmas break – where we did such amazing things as lying in (and sleeping!), spending time with our friends and family, socialising and what is that word again….oh yes, relaxing!
Whenever you get the chance to take a step back, and look at the panorama, its almost frightening to think how much has been crammed into your brain already. The curve in semester one was steep, but with the month over the holidays to reflect on it really showed how worth it it all was. I think it took that month for everything to try and sort itself inside the old brain to the extent that the dots are now really connected.
So here we are again, rested and a bit more relaxed and trying to get ourselves up for another big 6 weeks up until the spring break and the study trips (and sun – well for those of us going to Brazil).
A big thing for me this year was going to be the balancing act of playing rugby at a pretty serious level whilst doing this aswell, but due to two reasonably “freak” accidents, I managed to hyper extend my elbow (yes, it was not pleasant) just three minutes into the my first game back for my club after three years away, in the first game of the season. A six week layoff was followed by freak injury two – a hyperextended knee! These both meant that my rugby involvement in semester one was pretty limited, which all things being equal was probably a bit of a blessing in disguise.
But now I am pretty fit and healthy again (for a 31 year old anyway), which of course means one thing: more training. Which brings me to the crux of issue – how do I fit training three times a week plus a match into my MBA dominated life? It’s going to be a tough one getting the balance right, though, I must say the fresh air element is fantastic and it is nice to spend some time with my mates! I read an article not long ago that said that all the great leaders of the world got at least 1 hour of exercise in daily as a rule of thumb. I totally buy into that, it’s like getting out there in the fresh air resets your mind and vents any stress that is building up. Still getting up at 6am to hit the gym before a 12 hour day of college is going to take a little bit of getting used to! In my next blog we’ll see how that is going for me!
A few of us were talking mid semester one about the intensity of the MBA – we figured out that it is like fitting 5 years of work experience into 1. That was revised to 10 years by the end of the semester one; so let’s see where we are at in another 6 weeks time!!!
It is incredible though. We are getting an exposure to situations and knowledge that would literally take years to accumulate in the normal workplace. I am still very much of the opinion that we really have to take advantage of this unique situation of being in a learning environment where everyone really wants to be there, and really wants to learn. There are experiences to be shared and viewpoints to be seen from such a diverse variety of people from such a mix of backgrounds that you gotta be a sponge…..and absorb it all.
– John MacMahon, FT MBA