There is no such thing as an overnight success, just a lot of behind the scenes most never saw. I was thinking about this as I walked out the door to class this morning. All the people I pass everyday from the building, security, maintenance etc... if they are savvy, they could easily know so much about a person just by the simple act of observation. They tend to be older so they have experience, they have been here much longer than the students, so they know the type. They see you when you get home on the weekends, or what time you get up in the morning. They see when you come and go, what hours you keep. They can hear your conversations and they know who you keep as friends, or who your dating. They know your study habits, and when you go home or on vacation, they can see if you pack a lot or a little. They could (if they had to) probably make accurate guesses as to your background and how you live, not that they care... Anyway, back to the original point, being that there are no overnight successes, a good life is built brick by brick, right act by right act. So I use these watchful eyes to motivate myself to conduct right act after right act. Thus when I come down to study in the morning, or come back on a weekend sober and walk past them, our eye contact is like a little checkpoint charlie; we both log in each other's memories the characteristics we associate with each other.