{"id":681,"date":"2012-02-08T15:49:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T23:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?p=681"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:50:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:50:57","slug":"the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"The GMAT, Business School, and You: The Big Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Probably one story you have in your head is how good your life will be if you get the GMAT<\/a> score you desire and get into the school you want.\u00a0 You may also have a competing story, about how unpleasant it would be if you didn’t get that score or had to go to this school instead of that school.\u00a0 Of course, there’s nothing to say either of those stories have any truth to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider this old Chinese parable:<\/p>\n

One day, an old farmer was working in his field with his old horse. When the farmer turned his back, the horse unexpectedly ran into the mountains. Soon after, neighbors from the nearby village visited, offering their condolences and said, “What a shame.\u00a0 Now your only horse is gone.” \u00a0The farmer replied: “Who knows? We shall see.”<\/p>\n

Two days later the old horse came back, now rejuvenated after a bit of freedom in the mountainsides. \u00a0He came back with a few new younger and healthy horses which followed the old horse into the corral.\u00a0Word got out in the village of the old farmer’s good fortune and it wasn’t long before people stopped by to congratulate the farmer on his good luck.\u00a0 “How fortunate you are!” they exclaimed. “You must be very happy!” \u00a0Again, the farmer softly said, “Who knows? We shall see.”<\/p>\n

At daybreak on the next morning, the farmer’s only son set off to attempt to train the new wild horses, but the farmer’s son was thrown to the ground and broke his leg.\u00a0 One by one villagers arrived during the day to bemoan the farmer’s latest misfortune.\u00a0 “Oh, what a tragedy!\u00a0 You must be very sad,”\u00a0they said.\u00a0 Calmly going about his usual business the farmer answered, “Who knows? We shall see.”<\/p>\n

Several days later a war broke out. The Emperor’s men arrived in the village demanding that young men come with them to be conscripted into the Emperor’s army.\u00a0 As it happened the farmer’s son was deemed unfit because of his broken leg.\u00a0 “What very good fortune you have!” the villagers exclaimed as their own young sons were marched away. “You must be very happy.” “Who knows? We shall see!” replied the old farmer as he headed off to work his field alone.<\/p>\n

As time went on the broken leg healed but the son was left with a slight limp. Again the neighbors came to pay their condolences. “Oh what bad luck. Too bad for you!”\u00a0 But the old farmer simply replied; “Who knows? We shall see.”<\/p>\n

As it turned out the other young village boys had died in the war and the old farmer and his son were the only able bodied men capable of working the village lands. The old farmer became wealthy and was very generous to the villagers. They said: “Oh how fortunate we are, you must be very happy,” to which the old farmer replied, “Who knows? We shall see!”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what does this mean in the context of the GMAT? There are countless examples of folks who do brilliantly on the GMAT, go to great schools, but then for whatever reason are not as successful afterward.\u00a0 There are also folks who never did well on standardized tests, who went to schools that others would consider unworthy, but still are fabulously successful in their careers.\u00a0 Furthermore, while meditation and mindfulness practice<\/a> are strongly correlated with greater happiness and fulfillment, wealth is absolutely 100% uncorrelated with overall life-happiness.\u00a0 So, incidentally, is GMAT score.<\/p>\n

Wait a minute!\u00a0 It sounds like Mike is saying the GMAT doesn’t matter.\u00a0 Not at all. \u00a0My goal on this blog is to support the readers in their success on the GMAT in whatever way I can.\u00a0 I want to encourage you in doing everything that can further your success: studying content, learning strategies, taking practice tests, etc.\u00a0 All that is wonderful.\u00a0 Your stories<\/em>, though, about what it all means: that’s a different matter. Your stories<\/em> about what the future will be don’t contribute bupkis to your GMAT preparedness. In fact, if the stories you tell yourself generate anxiety or distraction, then they are positively detrimental to your GMAT preparedness.\u00a0 The truth is: no one even knows what tomorrow will bring, let alone a year or decade from now.\u00a0 As the poet W.S. Merwin wrote: “Today belongs to the few; tomorrow, to no one.”<\/p>\n

We all imagine the future: that’s natural.\u00a0 The problem is when we become convinced about stories about the future, and they cause us stress or fear or anxiety.\u00a0 It is often enough to “unplug” the emotional drama of a story simply to step back and acknowledge: of course, we don’t know if that’s how the future will turn out.\u00a0 None of us know what the future will be. What I am suggesting is a kind of detachment toward our stories.\u00a0 Detachment is very different from apathy.\u00a0 Apathy is cutting off, not caring. Detachment is a vital engagement that, rather than locking on to any one story, acknowledges, in all humility, that the future may well contain more than I can imagine right now.\u00a0 In fact, I would even argue: if your future turns out exactly as you are able to imagine it right now, then that means you would be falling short of your potential, because your potential is always beyond what you can imagine.<\/p>\n

As with what I have recommended in the other posts<\/a>, this detachment from our stories about the future takes practice.\u00a0 After a big surprise or big disappointment, it takes practice to be able to say, like the Chinese farmer, “Who knows?\u00a0 We’ll see.” Of course, deep breathing and mindfulness practice will dovetail nicely with this practice. Insofar as you can practice this and develop this skill, you will find you have more of your focus and more of your emotional energy at your disposal in the present moment, and thus are ready to bring your best self forward on whatever is the task at hand.\u00a0 And that<\/em><\/strong> is precisely what I would wish for you on your GMAT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Probably one story you have in your head is how good your life will be if you get the GMAT score you desire and get into the school you want.\u00a0 You may also have a competing story, about how unpleasant it would be if you didn’t get that score or had to go to this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13209],"class_list":["post-681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe GMAT, Business School, and You: The Big Picture - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The GMAT, Business School, and You: The Big Picture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Probably one story you have in your head is how good your life will be if you get the GMAT score you desire and get into the school you want.\u00a0 You may also have a competing story, about how unpleasant it would be if you didn’t get that score or had to go to this […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshGMAT\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-08T23:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-15T18:50:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshGMAT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshGMAT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mike M\u1d9cGarry\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#\/schema\/person\/320346c205075513344435baf9b0521b\"},\"headline\":\"The GMAT, Business School, and You: The Big Picture\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-08T23:49:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/\"},\"wordCount\":1034,\"commentCount\":24,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"GMAT Strategy and Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/the-gmat-business-school-and-you-the-big-picture\/\",\"name\":\"The GMAT, Business School, and You: The Big Picture - 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Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. 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He was also featured as \"member of the month\" for over two years at <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/mike-mcgarrys-gmat-experience\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Club<\/a>. Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating <em>magna cum laude<\/em>) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youtube <\/a>video explanations and resources like <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/whats-a-good-gmat-score\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What is a Good GMAT Score?<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-diagnostic-test\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Diagnostic Test<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}