1.  Natalie Hogan, the inspiring ‘Futurist‘ from Hasbro the international game and toy company, provided us with a thought provoking conversation during Friday’s Life Skills class.

For your homework, I am asking you to write an essay describing what you will be doing 5 years from today.  Please explain, in this well written essay, the following:

• what you hope you will be doing in 5 years.
  • If it’s a job, describe the job and what part of the country or world the job is located.  Please explain why this company hired you?  What value did you convince them you will add to their company?
  • If it’s college, what part of the country the college is located in and what you will be studying.  Please explain why this college accepted you and what value you will add to this college community.  Also indicate any extracurricular activities you will be involved in and explain the internship you have recently completed or planning to start.
• explain the steps you plan to take to make this vision of your future possible.
  • For instance, explain your networking strategy (the type of people you plan to meet to add to your network and why you believe this person or type of people will be beneficial to your aspirations for success).  What steps will you take to make sure these people want to be in your network?
  • what activities will you be doing outside of your comfort zone that will benefit your future success
  • describe any challenging decisions you must make to ensure the fulfillment of your 5 year plan
• describe your personal brand, i.e. how others will perceive you in 5 years.
• what you hope to be able to do to help less fortunate people after 5 years.

Valentina Gomez-Rincon introducing Hasbro’s ‘Futurist’, Natalie Hogan, to our Life Skills class on January 29, 2016

 Be realistic in your 5 year vision.  Aspirations for the future must be accompanied by realistic plans which include hard work, persistent networking, a strong brand, getting out of your comfort zone, good values like honesty and kindness as well as perseverance through failure all people encounter in their journey through life.  Without an action plan, our aspirations are nothing but fantasy which ultimately creates frustration and despair.

From the stories of our last two Life Skills guests, Misty Delgado and Natalie Hogan, I hope you believe you can do great things.  I am convinced!   The only thing preventing you from being the successful person you aspire to be is your decision not to do everything possible to make it happen.   Remember Misty’s story.   Think about how Natalie started.  And then, remember what both women have become.   You can achieve similar success in your future.

Please submit this essay electronically to me no later than midnight (12am) Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016.

If you think this is too much to do, think about the type of work you will be expected to do in college or technical school.   Let’s get ready for our future.