Graduate Study Challenges and Strategies for Personal Success
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HCS 504
January 22, 2012
Dr. William Weeks

Graduate Study Challenges and Strategies for Personal Success
The unchecked block that has plagued like a festering boil on the derriere of life for the last decade as a requirement for rank is how I have viewed graduate school. Until this point in my life I lacked the direction necessary to know what I wanted to study in graduate school, it is that simple. I dabbled and knew, by past performance, I did not want to blindly follow, like a lemming, the paths taken by most of my colleagues: Anesthesia, family practice, critical care, or psychology. Like everything in my life, I had to be unconventional and find my own path and in my own time. This is but a brief introduction, my personal and professional goals, methods of coping with life, the ability (or inability) to communicate, and why I chose this advanced time in my life to pursue a graduate course of instruction.
Professionally, I am a Lieutenant in the Nurse Corps (NC) of the United States Navy and a 24- Navy man. Personally, I am the loving and devoted husband to Debby, doting father to Millie and Mike and grandfather to Zack. If truth be told, I sometimes forget myself and have difficulty separating the military man from the family man, a problem my wife quickly remedies.
My goals follow a semi-rigid construction professionally, I am anything but a conventional NC officer, but I desire promotion to the next rank as everyone else. Because I have the attention span of a gerbil, I tend to set very short – term goals, like putting my uniform on correctly. Professionally, to fully realize a master’s degree seems awfully lofty to me, but it is my long-term goal nevertheless. Personally, I want to be the best husband and father I can be, get healthy, and shed a few pounds.