I'm the decider.

Tonight, I was eating dinner with my wife and in-laws when my father-in-law says, "You know, happiness is a choice." Apparently, so is being smart.

Growing up, I was a decent student. From about 4th grade on, I was an all-A's-and-one-B kinda guy. I graduated high school with a meager 95.6/100 average; not very impressive. My wife graduated with a 104*/100, and she was 4th in her class. I earned my 95.6 by making a B almost every six-weeks and even throwing a C or two in there for fun. By college, tho, I decided to work hard and do well. At Harvard Pain, I earned 3 B's: one in Biology, one in Logic, and one on my bachelor's thesis. The rest, I'm proud to say, were A's.**

I'm not spouting all this to brag. When your school has a checkbook-and-a-pulse admissions policy***, getting an A in a curve-grading class is not that difficult. But the point is, I worked harder in college than I did in high school, and I did better both comparatively and objectively. How did I do that? I don't know; I just did. I guess I believed that I could change the strength of my brain muscle. I'm another example of the theory espoused in that article.

Rivers Cuomo said it right when he said "If you want it, you can have it, but you've got to learn to reach out there and grab it."




*Ed. Note--AP classes got a 1.125 multiplier. For example, a 100 on your report card translated to a 112.5 for gpa purposes.

**Ed. Note--In high school, I earned a C in chemistry one six-weeks. In college, I got the high A. Better teacher, or better attitude?

***Ed. Note--If I have to explain this to you, you may not have been able to get in to HPU.