"I wanted to get the cement truck into the poem" -Tony Hoagland

For those of us who don't live in Valencia, Monday mornings are a struggle. And for me, this past Monday was especially difficult. Thanks to what once had seemed like a brilliant idea, I departed Philadelphia at 6 AM Eastern Standard Time to reach San Francisco at 9 AM Pacific Standard Time. I then rushed home, showered, half-assed the hair drying process, ran a straightener through my hair, and sprinted out the door.

Upon arriving at my office, I was greeted by a coworker's whimsical "Nice of you to join us," followed by "Did you get a haircut?" The question was actually a nicer way of saying, "Your hair looks different," which was a nicer way of saying, "Your hair looks awful." If you are a female, the following will resonate with you (men, just take my word for it): When you do not thoroughly dry your hair, flawless hair-straightening is near impossible. The wet patches of your hair sizzle from the heat of the straightener, usually resulting in overly frizzy hair (the opposite of straight). It's just a mess. But when you dry your hair well, you continue on to hair-straightening heaven.

If you are a Lakers fan, this has probably been a frustrating season for you. Time and time again, I have found myself dejected during fourth-quarter-play, wondering how things would have been different if the team had just started strong. You can't just wake up in the last five minutes and expect to win! I would yell at the television screen (a very cathartic experience, might I add).

My eleventh grade AP US History exams consisted of two sections: multiple choice and essay. Each of the multiple choice questions was worth four points, so accuracy was of utmost importance. If you missed enough multiple choice questions, your performance on the essay, no matter how great, was negligible. I can still hear my teacher's staple comment as he returned graded exams: As always, if you buried yourself in the multiple choice, you had no chance of doing well on the exam. It was all numbers.

This past Tuesday, I was able to have lunch with a leader of my group (my hair situation had drastically improved since the day before). We explored a variety of discussion topics and ended with his giving me general career advice. The classic this is what I wish I knew when I was in your place. He looked off into the distance as he thought back to early in his career. Make a dedicated effort to get off to a good start with new teams, new people, new projects. It's really difficult to change a first impression he said matter-of-factly. Not impossible, just really difficult.

Some time last year, my housemate sprinted down the stairs towards the door, yelling at me to follow. I went outside to see a fresh coat of wet cement on the sidewalk just in front of our house. Hurry! A security guard is coming! She exclaimed, throwing me a stick. We started engraving our house number, "4036." We got through two numbers before the security guard arrived and asked us to leave (not before reminding us that we were vandalizing public property). The cement had dried by the next morning when I left for class. I wouldn't call our "40" a success, but at least we had gotten to make some impression before the cement had dried. One that would live on, before it was too late.

This notion of strong starts and first impressions is not disguised superficiality. It's learning to put your best foot forward when you take your first step. That small step will give you the confidence and credibility to march on through your journey, no matter what trials or tribulations you may face along the way. If you do it right, you'll leave a permanent set of footprints in that cement behind you. And that's pretty cool.