Success is the never ending process of progression.

~ KNOWING YOUR LIMITATIONS VS. YOUR GOALS ~

In case you were wondering, yes; ever since I was a school boy, I’ve loved to wear button-up shirts, vests, ties, and nice slacks as evidenced in my many photos. This wasn’t because it was ever popular, trust me on that one. In fact, it was because it just felt right. I’ve always been an older gentleman in a young man’s body and dressing the part was my way of expressing my inner feelings. Coming with a mature disposition, down to earth standards, and quick wit, only helped me to keep up with life as it constantly throws me curveballs.

Due to many unstable factors, my parents unenrolled me from public school in the third grade. From there I never went back on a consistent basis until I was an adult. Unconventionally, I did manage to graduate from high school; however, it wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I recognized the absolute need for me to focus on my education. I returned to school when I was 26 and had to take adult literacy classes in order to catch myself up to my peers. There was nothing more humbling than having to come to terms with my inept reading, writing, and arithmetic skill levels. After much hardship, long hours of study, and a commitment to my cause, I graduated with a certificate in medical transcription in 2008 from Career Step. I became an honors student, always maintained a 4.0 GPA, and graduated with a certificate as well as an associate’s degree in 2012 from Mesa Community College. In 2014, I completed a certificate and an associate’s degree in law enforcement technology from Rio Salado College. Even now, I am continuing to learn and grow in my educational process.

All these years later, I am grateful for the decision I made to go back to school. I didn’t just get degrees, or certificates; more importantly, I learned how to learn. Currently, this website is hosted on a server in my office, and I do all of the programming for it myself. I am a CEO of an engineering firm, Mansfield Engineering LLC, that I founded. Additionally, I own a tech solutions company. I am also co-owner and founder of a child care company called Carino Academy. Also, I work as a police officer at Arizona State University full-time, while I attend classes there part-time. None of these things would be possible if I had not turned to education. Accomplishments have been slow in the getting, but through sheer determination and sacrifice, I have achieved many great things.


Arrival Vs. Journey

Through the busy happenings in my life, there have been occasions where I’ve been able to stop and reminisce. The ebb and flow of my life is slowly moving in a direction, and though the pace is slow, and the progress almost non-recognizable, I am going places. It appears that there have been times of arriving, but I assure you, that’s only one perspective. Struggling to achieve a degree, founding a new company, or even getting married is a journey. I was recently looking over my Linkedin profile and it’s almost comical to me how things are simply an icon, or another “section” and yet the process of getting one little section took a large amount of energy.

Whenever I find myself getting impatient or I see my children becoming frustrated at the pace of a thing, I reflect on my own journey and gain strength in the understanding that my achievements took time, too.

[wpcitation]

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