My Autobiography (Circa 1979)

Introduction

What if you could instantly jump back to the time to when you were just a teenager? Can you imagine how different your memories, your way of thinking, and your thoughts of the future would be?

This weekend I took this type of unexpected time-travel trip. In many ways this was a treat, so I thought I would share what I learned from it!

How Did This Happen?

While doing a little spring cleaning, my wife found the only copy of “Autobiographies” that I wrote in early 1979. I was 15 years old when I wrote it, and it contains five short essays. This document was so old that the pages have turned yellow, the staple that was used to hold the typewritten pages together had rusted (see upper left corner in the Figure below), and the paper type I used for this is probably not even made any more!

Although the stories are written by an inexperienced teenager, at least I scored a B+! I could have scored higher if I included pictures, so in this article I will include pictures of the document itself.

What I Learned About Myself as a 15 Year-Old

When I read the five essays, the first thing I learned was that my 15 year-old brain remembered details of my life far better than my current brain can remember. There are details in the stories that I simply have forgotten. Even after I read them, I still couldn’t recall many of those details – even in very significant stories like the death of my brother (“Things I Have Lost”).

The second thing I learned was that my 15 year-old mentality is far different than what I have now. My physical and mental work ethics have developed to higher intensities and consistencies than I could have imagined at 15. In the final essay that is titled “I Have to Decide”, I was embarrassed to read how I was adverse to “hard training” and “dedication” to a career. It is very clear to me that attending college was not even a thought to me at that time.

In the four decades since I wrote those words, my transformation into a man took paths that were very different than I expected. My physical and mental abilities have been developed over time to a point that I am proud and confident of my skills and accomplishments. Wisdom is one positive side-effect of age. This articles explains how this wisdom is now beneficial in my career.

If someone were to reverse this story and had the ability to show me my future life when I was 15 years old, I’m not sure I would have believed it. The mental and physical changes I have made since I was that 15 year-old kid have been very significant.

Finally, in the first essay that is titled “What I Am Best At”, I reminisce about being a baseball player. This article includes one of the first documented cases of my true calling: being a data-driven worker. In this essay, I document my batting average as .457! Did you notice how I used three decimal digits and how I reported I was second in RBI’s? Analytics were obviously lurking in my brain, even before I finished my first half of high school.

Now getting back to my self assessment of me being best at baseball. Over a 10-year period from 5 to 15 years-old, I developed a very gifted throwing arm by playing catch with myself (throwing the ball high into the air) and throwing a ball against a very tall building for many years. I did this just about every day.

By the time I was an early teen, I could throw base runners out at home plate from the deepest parts of the outfield. As a catcher, I could nail base runners trying to steal second base. As a pitcher, I could blaze the fastball by hitters all game long. Unfortunately, I never was able to develop the curve ball like I wanted to. Finally, I could launch footballs and fling frisbees for long distances. For these reasons, I have to agree with my 15 year-old self: I was pretty good at baseball.

If that is the case, you might wonder why did I stop playing? After all, this was roughly the time at which Catfish Hunter got the first million dollar contract for playing baseball. Well, the answer lies in the second essay “What I Have Lost”.

When my older brother Danny died on that snowy January day in 1979, I was forced to face a reality: we don’t live forever. In my adult mind, I look back upon this time as the most profound time of my life. I have often said that at 15, I went from being a carefree kid to being a person focused on education in what seemed like a very short time. I stopped playing baseball because my brother Danny was one of my biggest fans, and it hurt to play without him being there.

If I could jump back in time, I would tell myself to keep playing, to find the limits of my ability. I would have tried to play collegiate baseball. Without collegiate guidance, however, that didn’t happen for me. This is one thing that I regret in my life. I think I gave up on myself too soon.