Response to question: In what ways does the record you’ve built in prison advance you for a career-track with an employer, or prepare you for entrepreneurial career?
Since my arrival in prison, I have signed up for and taken every possible program and class that the BOP has offered to date, at my institution. I took them because I want to accumulate as many First Step Act credits as possible and because I know that even at the age of 50, people can still learn. Even those who have degrees and advanced degrees. I have memorialized every activity of every single day in calendars that I created with matching codes for each activity that match the 13 categories of the First Step Act areas associated with recidivism reduction activities, thought processes, and productive activities. I have also captured each days’ activities along with something new I learned that day from the Bible, or something remembered from my daily readings, in journals. I have even used two of the Prison Professors Talent workbooks as journals. By participating in these programs and classes, in a sincere way to learn and improve, and my having it all documented, I can show future employers that despite limited resources, I can still be a productive employee and a solid member of the team, willing to do more than just the minimum and can contribute to success of an organization. In prison, you basically are the CEO of your own company, and that company’s mission should be to follow the rules, participate in programs, learn new things, and change your way of thinking that focuses on success no matter what your doing. Being successful at that, growing, learning, getting stronger physically and mentally and spiritually will serve you well if you decide to own your own business after prison. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t…..you are correct”……choose to believe that you can and invest in yourself and your family and your future by doing all those things Michael talks about on these e-mails and in his courses.
Shane A. Smith
#58920-177
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