Hard Work - Part Deux

I don't know why I'm on this "hard work kick", but while I'm here I figured I might as well blog about it.

THE TRAINING WHEELS ARE OFF
I think people actually forget that it takes hard work to reach your goals...the more amazing your goals are the harder you will have to work to achieve them. I say we forgot because once upon a time we knew this. We lived it, and we are where we are because of it. You are where you are today either from the lack of hard work, or because of your hard work.

The problem is, now, there is no structure to guide you through the “work toward your goals process” which could be good or bad. Good because there are no boundaries and bad because there is no coaching. The training wheels have been taken off and your dad has just removed his hand from the seat post; it's all up to you now.

When you're out with your child or someone younger and you see someone who is not doing well in life; maybe a homeless person or a pan handler, you immediately say, "That person did not work hard in school" or “See what happens when you don’t work hard?” Exactly!! …..but it was easy to work hard in school for a few reasons:
One: You were surrounded by people doing the same thing as you, which always makes things a lot easier (like going to the gym, it's always easier with a partner).

Second: You fail many times in school and don't give up. You get C's, D's and sometime F's and you are pushed to do better and of course with hard work, you do improve and do better. These should be life lessons not just classroom lessons.

Once you are in the real world with no boundaries, if you fail, no one is pushing you to try again. In school the mindset is....
that you WILL graduate. In more affluent households the mind set is that YOU WILL GO TO COLLEGE.
For kids whose parents have college degrees in 1992, 65% of those kids enrolled in a 4 year college after high school, versus 21% whose parents had a high school diploma or less. (From a 2001 Condition of Education Report)

YOU WILL SUCCEED - YOU HAVE NO CHOICE
In affluent households, parents don't give their children a choice to think about failure. That's the mind-set that you need to have. You are GOING to reach your goal. Yes you will fail, and have to work harder. Yes you will have to sacrifice but if you are focused you increase your chances of success everyday.

So just like those who study hard on Fridays and sacrificed by not hanging out, smoking and drinking; just like those who got after school jobs to buy that bike; you have to use your free time wisely. After spending family time, working your 9 to 5, and going to the gym there is little time left for sleeping and pursuing your dreams. The time is there...it’s just hard to come by. If you make your dreams a priority you will find the time.

Remember there are no boundaries, that means there are no limits to your dreams, how fast you can reach them and how hard you can fail and comeback. You can score lower then an F and you can graduate in 6 months. There are no rules. You will need coaching but you have found it. This blog, I am a coach. Blogs, books, and anything motivational are like your parents pushing you to reach your goals. Then use your small successes as promotions from one grade to the next. Since I started this blog, I have started and continue to run 3 businesses, overcame unemployment in 16 weeks, and have increased my annual earnings by over $60K. That’s Hard Work!

More Proof – Forever 21 CEO Do Won Chang
Chang's entrepreneurial bent became apparent in Korea. Three years before moving to California, he says, he started the first coffee and natural juice delivery service in the Myungdong neighborhood in Seoul. When Chang, now 54, emigrated, he initially worked three jobs at once, working in a coffee shop, doing janitorial work and pumping gas. It was his job at the gas station that led him into the fashion industry. "I noticed that the merchants had the best cars," he says. In 1984, the couple opened a clothing store in Los Angeles.
Today that business is one of the U.S.' fastest-growing retailers, Forever 21, known for its trendy, affordable fashions that often replicate styles of more expensive brands. He is chief executive; and his wife is chief merchandising officer. 2009 estimates sales of $1.7 billion and net income of $135 million for the fiscal year ending February 2009, up 37% and 25% respectively. The retailer has 460 stores in 13 countries, including one in Korea and one in China that both opened last year.

That's what hard work is all about.
Let's Go!
-MJL
An FTB Bloggers blog