… is failure. Whatever task I put my mind to, I have always been able to achieve. It might take time to figure out how to get to that goal or accomplish the task I have set for myself. I attribute this to my parents and the way I was raised. I was taught to never give up and keep my focus on the future to be created.
Two of my life experiences have helped frame this for me.
The first was in the winter of 1988 when I had a paper route. Back then, there was a small community newspaper that serviced the communities around Ft. Meade, MD. A friend was a paperboy and recommended me to the company to cover another neighborhood. This was a great idea since I eagerly looked for any type of work. I took the job with my parents approval and started delivering papers; we also worked 2 or 3 nights a week to get new subscriptions. I thought it was great, because we made a commission and a prize for the new subscriptions. I made it a goal for myself to become the top seller for new subscriptions, it didn’t take long and by the end of 2 months of work I had earned a commission of 400$! For a 13 year old this was awesome!
The second was in 11th grade, when my history class took a 3 day study on propaganda used by Germany in WWII. This caused me to be 3 days late on my term paper. I misunderstood the teacher and thought that I would always have 3 extra days to work on my assignment. Well, I found out after the second due date that I was wrong. I ended up with a cumulative C. I had held the highest A for the first 2 quarters. Another student laughed at me and told me that I would not be able to bring my grade up by the end of the year. I looked right at him and said I will have an A for this class by the end of the year. Oh, I worked for it extra credit and everything else to make sure that I got everything I could. By the end of that school year, I had the 3rd highest A. I was proud of my accomplishment and to prideful to be gracious, and I rubbed it in the other student’s face. Unfortunately, I didn’t get smart enough to ask forgiveness before it was to late.
These experiences helped to shape my sense and ability of accomplishment. I look back on these to events to give myself encouragement and to give me the strength to stick to my goals and see that I achieve them!
iron wil
