Back when I started 0 Excuses Fitness, (blink and you’ll miss it! ?) I wrote about an old professor of mine, who I called Dr. K.
Dr K was a Math professor at college, and Math being a subject I was always good at for whatever reason and always enjoyed, I took a lot of them in college!
I think some were electives. Some were required. But even amongst the electives, I had choices, and yours truly made the choice to take Calculus 1, 2 and 3 - - and then “Discrete Math” as well on top of that.
Now, 1 and 2 were required. The rest weren’t!
Anyway, I met Dr. K when taking Calculus 2 I believe, as he was the one teaching the class.
A tall slim guy with a sense of humor that was slightly off, and a brilliant effing brain if any, as I was soon to find out as I got to know him better and talk to him!
Along with Dr B (who I’ve probably written about as well and still stay in touch with, him of “internet 101” class), he was and is one of my favorite teachers/profs ever.
And this is coming from someone who barely ever went to class . . .
. . . Anyway, those were the days of “Netscape email”.
And Dr K had this system where you could check your HW assignments online (so did Dr B! ?) and submit them without ever having to go to class (if you know how to do it, which most didn’t).
I still remember my friends sitting there scratching their heads during Calculus exams, while yours truly would guzzle down a few beers and show up late for the exam, and still ace it.
Now, that’s not something I recommend obviously! Neither the showing up late part or the beer guzzling, but hey, I was 18 at the time. Gotta do what a 18 year old gotta do! ?
Anyway, Dr K had this long ass midterm paper we were supposed to do.
“Take home” exam as it were, open book as well (strangely enough, Dr B did much the same thing during his exams – both these guys were REAL world guys, not “airy fairy” professors that teach stuff you’ll never use!).
And I took mine home.
I think it was holidays back then . . . of some sort.
I still remember Jen, a girl I knew messging me on ICQ (remember that??) and telling me “I’m going to FAIL”.
It sounded about as ominous as the words of an undertaker.
And being the exam was nothing short of BORING for me, I did a half ass job, and turned it in.
When I did so, Dr K called me up a few hours before the submission deadline.
“You can do better than this, Rahul!”
And he sent me back home with the rejoinder of “You still have a few hours to get this done, Rahul!”
Go home, and get it done – well!
And a few weeks before that, which I really should have told you before I told you this . . .
I emailed him about the status of some HW that I submitted online.
He took a while to reply (which was strange for him, as he normally replied very quickly).
And I called him up.
He said the following.
“You’ve aced it! Come and collect it when you can”
And then . . . “Are you ever going to show up for class???”
My response?
“Uh, yes, perhaps I will”.
And I did.
After class, he spoke to me at length.
“You need to be challenged, Rahul!! You don’t need to take these Mickey Mouse classes!”
And though they were anything but Mickey Mouse for the rest of the people taking them, for me they were.
He was RIGHT.
He was SPOT ON. I had done all this in high school of my own accord since I was interested in Math, and therefore college (those classes) were a frigging BREEZE for me to be honest.
And I still ended up with a 2.7 GPA, while the “muggers” and “copiers” (two different categories, don’t ask, hehe) ended up with 4.0 GPA’s.
And this morning, as I think about Dr K, his words ring out in my mind.
“You need to be challenged!”
So true, my friend. So true. And anyone that achieves anything of note needs to be challenged, big time!
That’s how my whole life has been, and this has held true WORKOUT wise as well.
From wayyyy back in the day when Brooks Kubik asked me if I was in the military when I told him about my hill climbing routines, to people calling me an ironman, strongman, and everything in between – and a lunatic as well (and of course, the 100 or so other not-so-nice names) – one things stands out.
Big time.
I need to be challenged. And I believe in challenging YOU, my customers, to become the BEST you can be, and then some!
As Charles Mitchell who should actually be at “elite” status in many regards given what he does on a daily basis workout wise once said (again, I’m parphrasing) –
“I hate workout books that don’t challenge me! I know the way you exercise, and it’s nothing but easy!”
Amen, my friend. Amen!
Best,
Rahul Mookerjee
PS – Be challenged, my friend, and be challenged to be a BETTER You. And our products will guide you every step of the way!
