Attitude or Gratitude???

                I am so mad at myself.  I have a class now where the total grade revolves around 4 quizes and 3 midterms.  My last midterm (our first one), I did way worse on than I had expected.  I was sure that I had at least a “B” even though what I really wanted and needed was an “A”.  I instead had a low “C”.

                Part of my problem is that I had been moving and did not study until the night before and only for an hour or two.  I thought I had a way better handle on the material than I really did, which leads to my other problem, my attitude.  I had gotten arrogant about how much I already knew, and thinking that things were going to be much easier for me than they ended up being.  Not that it is an easy class but I had already learned in previous classes this same material.

                The biggest problem I believe has been my attitude, and today’s event pulled me down further to a reality I needed.  This morning I had my third Quiz.  Last night I went over the material again and had planned to even get up early to study a little more.  I need to raise my grade from my last midterm.

I didn’t get up early though.  I wasn’t late but I felt like I had more time than I really did.  Eight a.m. became 8:17 am and then it was 10 till 9am before I left. 

There are two “rules” for this class.  Midterms/quiz’s can not be made up if missed AND if you arrive after the first person leaves, you are not permitted to take the test.

I got to the parking lot 5 minutes after class started.  It would have been another 5 minutes to walk in the door.  I had missed my opportunity.  I couldn’t believe it.  I never expected to be late.  I had every expectation on being early and even studying a little more.   So where exactly did I go wrong?

I took for granted where I was and where I needed to be.  I thought “I had it”.  I met someone else recently that had that same attitude.  This person had no room to learn or improve because in everything presented to her, she had the attitude “ya, ya, I got this” when really she didn’t. 

I don’t want that same attitude getting in the way of my possibilities in life.  This may seem like a silly analogy to you, especially with whatever you may be facing.  But for me, it loudly shouted “check yourself”.  So that is what I am going to do, here and in a few other areas too.