"The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are." -John Borroughs
My twelfth grade English teacher made a purpose of giving her classes a wise saying everyday for her students to write down and think about. One of my favorites that i still remember today is, "Often people fail to recognize opportunity because it comes to the in overalls and looks like work!" America was once dubbed the land of opportunities, but sadly, as a nation we have failed to seize those same opportunities.
Many of the people that I talk with are seeking a different life. For some it is the lure of materialism brought to a heightened awareness by seductive marketing. Others are fooled into dreams of "perfect" relationships by a Hollywood image or movie. Most people are looking for simply a change in their reality. There are other things people do to change their reality. For instance, my daughter changed her hair color just before she went off to college. I was shocked to see hair color go from strawberry blonde to a dark red. Changes like these are simple things many people do to "re-invent" themselves.
Unfortunately, most of these quick changes are really not changes at all but simply the avoidance of opportunuties. As a teacher I have witnessed students work incredibly hard at avoiding work. In fact, some of these students worked harder trying to avoid the task, than the original task actually called on them to give. It is this avoidance of the task to which they commit themselves, while missing the long term benefits a simply applying themselves to it.
To those who spend countless minutes trying to avoid difficult assignments, projects, or tasks, I would say, "NIKE!" Perhaps my favorite marketing slogan of all time, NIKE's "Just Do It!" Slogan really is the best way to approach the hard things we all want to avoid. When the assignments are hard, when you encounter a difficult task steel yourself to the opportunity presented and JUST DO IT!
My twelfth grade English teacher made a purpose of giving her classes a wise saying everyday for her students to write down and think about. One of my favorites that i still remember today is, "Often people fail to recognize opportunity because it comes to the in overalls and looks like work!" America was once dubbed the land of opportunities, but sadly, as a nation we have failed to seize those same opportunities.
Many of the people that I talk with are seeking a different life. For some it is the lure of materialism brought to a heightened awareness by seductive marketing. Others are fooled into dreams of "perfect" relationships by a Hollywood image or movie. Most people are looking for simply a change in their reality. There are other things people do to change their reality. For instance, my daughter changed her hair color just before she went off to college. I was shocked to see hair color go from strawberry blonde to a dark red. Changes like these are simple things many people do to "re-invent" themselves.
Unfortunately, most of these quick changes are really not changes at all but simply the avoidance of opportunuties. As a teacher I have witnessed students work incredibly hard at avoiding work. In fact, some of these students worked harder trying to avoid the task, than the original task actually called on them to give. It is this avoidance of the task to which they commit themselves, while missing the long term benefits a simply applying themselves to it.
To those who spend countless minutes trying to avoid difficult assignments, projects, or tasks, I would say, "NIKE!" Perhaps my favorite marketing slogan of all time, NIKE's "Just Do It!" Slogan really is the best way to approach the hard things we all want to avoid. When the assignments are hard, when you encounter a difficult task steel yourself to the opportunity presented and JUST DO IT!
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