As some may know, in addition to running Mutt Magic full time, I also attend school full time. I try to not allow idle time for my brain, and I like to remain challenged. As my summer semester is finishing up, my professor had us analyze the class, which led me to an important realization! People will meet you where you have set your expectations, and will be enriched and grow when they are challenged. Wow. I suppose this is something that we all know, but may not take the time to think about. The next thing the professor asked us was how we would apply this in life.

When I thought of this, I also thought of formerly being that unchallenged employee that used to sit around and email my friends or play computer games. I definitely do NOT have time for that now- nor do I have a desire to be unproductive or to fill time with meaningless things. The next thing I thought of was how to prevent unproductive behavior from current and future employees. I’m lucky to be in a business that naturally provides an enriching environment, but that’s not to say that people don’t need to be challenged! In the past, I’ve found myself thinking about how easy teaching a basic group obedience class is, and there will come a point where my employees will feel the same way. So, what’s next?? Well, that will be different for each person, depending on their strengths. But, it will be my goal to provide a challenge.

I’ll finish by stating that I overall believe school to be a necessary evil. I don’t typically have respect for many college professors, because most of them never actually have made it in the “real world” that they’re trying to prepare students for. For example, I don’t like to be told about business by someone who has never run one, etc. With all of that said, while the above referenced class was not about productivity, this was something very valuable that I was able to take away!