In today's world, it's not politically correct to tell someone they have everything they need in life to be successful. That's so boomer and not a reflection of our current construct. It's in vogue to make excuses for various races, nations, and classes of people's failure to launch and rise because they don't have the needed resources for success.
This falsehood, like so much of the other prevailing propaganda, is a blatant lie. And yet, we can find all kinds of voices amplifying this thread. If your job stinks, it's your bosses' fault. If you can't compete academically, it's the schools' fault. If you feel bad about yourself, it's the church's fault. If you can't "adult" well, it's your parents' fault. If the rivers are polluted, it's the capitalist's fault. If people commit crimes, it's society's fault. These excuses are heaping condemnation upon the poor fool who believes them!
If success only comes before work in the dictionary, why are so many people who like blisters only show up after the work is done? I learned early in life the life-sustaining qualities of work. I got my first paying job at 14 years of age, working at The Red Barn, a fast-food restaurant located on the corner of Carlisle Pike and Sporting Hill Road. I still drive by it today and reflect that's where it all started! Then I worked at a department store called Pomeroy's at the Capital City Mall.
Summers were never a time for vacation for this working girl. I spent summers at Word of Life Bible Institute as a housekeeper, waitress, and whatever else they needed me to do. I also sold books door to door for two summers with the Southwestern Book Company, where I found myself living in Bluefield, WV, and Blacksburg, VA. Then it was off to the Air Force Academy, where summers involved going on three-week deployments to various bases to get a taste of active-duty life, taking academic courses, or acting as cadet cadre managing programs for the incoming freshmen affectionately referred to as 'Doolies.'
My father LOVED to work as much as he LOVED books. Growing up with Tremendous as a parent was a cross between boot camp and a sitcom. Everything we did had a purpose, enthusiasm, and fun. I can remember my father telling me, "Tracey, work is more fun than fun!" And I wholeheartedly agreed. You see, I saw first-hand the wealth and wisdom created and enjoyed by those who worked hard. My father came from an impoverished background, flunking out of school in the 8th grade and possessing none of the indicators of future success. However, my father had something infinitely more valuable; the drive to work. And he never stopped working until his last breath.
Some people go out of their way to get out of the way of work. Then others go out of their way to get into the way of work. Charles Schwab wrote a brilliant essay on this topic titled, Succeeding With What You Have. Imagine if our town, our state, our country, our world, did that. Resources don't grow on trees; somebody has to create them. While it's a blessing to give someone a hand up, let's never forget as individuals, we must first and foremost push ourselves up to reach that hand. Otherwise, we're looking for a handout. We create our breaks, and if others open doors for us, then that's double the blessing! Schwab even employed his principles in his home with his wife.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Present leaders rise from the ranks. These men are not natural prodigies. They won out by using normal brains to think beyond their manifest daily duty."
"The men who miss success have two general alibis: "I'm not a genius" is one; the other, "There aren't the opportunities today there sued to be." Neither excuse holds. The first is beside the point; the second is altogether wrong."
"I have always felt that the surest way to qualify for the job just ahead is to work a little harder than anyone else on the job one is holding down."
"Nothing is more fatal to success than taking one's job as a matter of course."
"The man who fails to give fair service during the hours for which he is paid is dishonest. The man who is not willing to give more than this is foolish."
"The man who attracts attention all the time is the man who is thinking all the time, and expressing himself in little ways."
"Be thorough in all things, no matter how small or distasteful! The man who counts his hours and kicks about his salary is a self-elected failure."
"All successful employers of labor are stalking men who will do the unusual, men who think, men who attract attention by performing more than is expected of them."
"Men make opportunity. Every great industrial achievement has been the result of individual effort—the practical development of a dream in the mind of an individual."
"Real success if won only by hard, honest, persistent tail. Unless a young man gets accustomed to that in school, he is going to have a very hard time getting accustomed to it outside."
"I am not a believer in large salaries. I hold that every man should be paid for personal production."
Order your tremendous copies today and starting succeeding with what you have!!
