It's all over !!
We turned in our capstone paper on March 12th and that marked the end of a chapter in my life. Considering that I never would go to school again for learning, I might as well italicize this experience as the end of an episode. It was an experience as grueling as a strenuous day hike - rewarding but tiring nonetheless. To mark the end of this long voyage (3years for some, as long as 5 years for others), we named our Capstone team 'The Odyssey'. Everyone in my team has a different story, but it has the same underlying theme of hard work, sacrifice and managing time. While all the previous quarters were challenging, the final quarter was especially hard. If you have any friends from SCU, talk to them about Tammy Madsen's Capstone and they will go on and on like an energizer bunny. We spent 30 hours a week outside the class for this one course. That's like another job!
Whenever I thought I was getting the wrong end of the stick, I looked at my team mates, who were managing their MBA along with not just work but with kids, for inspiration. I bowed in their general direction, stopped whining and got back to working on the project. Being the ultimate procrastinator, I never finish any of my assignments unless I can smell the stench and feel the chill of the looming deadline. But I had the good fortune of working with an amazing team full of energy and focus. We pushed, taunted and challenged each other into completing a "close to turnin quality work" 10 days before the deadline. By the time we submitted the final paper, it had gone through almost a dozen revisions. I don't recollect any instance where I had time for more than 1 review before turning in the damn thing. Thanks to you 'Team Odyssey'.
So, what next? This is a very personal question and if you ask a dozen of my class mates, you will get a dozen answers. The implicit connotation to this harmless question is malicious indeed. The world expects an MBA to succeed dramatically and become a CEO of a Fortune 500 company over night (or) it expects him to fail dramatically and end up in a low security cell for committing some white collar crime. Rarely does either of these scenarios occur. But one thing is sure. The MBA changed me, my perception, perspective and aspirations, forever - mostly for good. Though the curse of the MBA - never feeling content and always thinking about what next, looms large, I am looking forward to setting higher career goals and achieving those aspirations in future.
That said, most of my focus in the next 12 - 18 months will be on the personal front. I have to get myself back in shape, get back in touch with friends, do the things I wanted to do but never have gotten time to do and get my personal life in order. My main objective is to fill the 30+ hours of free time a week with activities towards achieving the goals I've set for myself (some of them outlined in my previous blogs).
Right now, I am looking forward for the week long trip to Utah to decompress and to marvel at nature's splendor at Zion, Bryce and the arches national parks. The travelogues to follow.
Later,
Sai.
posted by Sai G @ 9:42 AM
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