You’ve got to work for it
You’ve got to work for it
By Bob Garon
TODAY Newspaper
Sunday, November 7, 2004 9:41 PM
If you are waiting for Lady Luck to come by and drop success on your lap, you’re going to wait for a very long time, perhaps forever. Success doesn’t just happen, it is made to happen by those who are willing and able.
You would be surprised to know how many people sit back and decide not to do better for themselves because they suspect that forward movement will be hard work that they are not prepared to do.
The great Thomas Edison was a relentless genius who slept in his laboratory when he was hot on the trail of a new invention. He knew that success is mostly about sweat. A thousand good ideas are thought about every day, but remain in the mind and never see the light of day because of fear and reluctance to work hard.
“Opportunity,” said Edison, “is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
“Words without actions” writes John Mason, “are the assassins of dreams. The smallest good deed produces more than the greatest intention. You will find an empty dream if you put nothing into it. Everytime one person expresses an idea, he finds 10 others who thought of it before but took no action. Ideas times nothing equals nothing. It takes work. Even a mosquito doesn’t get a slap on the back until he starts to work.”
We are all born lazy. In the first years of life, people do most things for us. We get used to it. We soon learn that work isn’t at all pleasant and we do what we need to in order to avoid it as best as we can.
But success and ultimately happiness will depend on work and on how much we are willing to take it upon ourselves. Even solid and mature loving makes many demands on us and calls for sacrifices that few are willing to make.
In fact, we have this Hollywoodish thinking that love just happens effortlessly. Great lovers make it look easy, not because it’s easy but because they work together so well.
If you want to succeed, roll up your sleeves and get down to work. Forget playing the Lotto and hanging around casinos hoping to make it big in an instant. The words of the manager of a casino should keep ringing in your ears. “You might beat the house tonight,” he said, “but you’ll return tomorrow and we will get it all back. . . and then some.”
It should be an encouragement to you to know that nobody is immune to problems. “Even the lion,” says Mason, “has to fight off flies.”
Expect difficulties, and don’t run from them. Instead, you should welcome them because you will find success somewhere there hidden among them. You will rarely find Lady Luck in the stories of successful people. If she does appear, it is only for an instant and then she is gone. Success can be found among obstacles and difficulties and is given to those who are brave enough to venture among them.
By Bob Garon
TODAY Newspaper
Sunday, November 7, 2004 9:41 PM
If you are waiting for Lady Luck to come by and drop success on your lap, you’re going to wait for a very long time, perhaps forever. Success doesn’t just happen, it is made to happen by those who are willing and able.
You would be surprised to know how many people sit back and decide not to do better for themselves because they suspect that forward movement will be hard work that they are not prepared to do.
The great Thomas Edison was a relentless genius who slept in his laboratory when he was hot on the trail of a new invention. He knew that success is mostly about sweat. A thousand good ideas are thought about every day, but remain in the mind and never see the light of day because of fear and reluctance to work hard.
“Opportunity,” said Edison, “is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
“Words without actions” writes John Mason, “are the assassins of dreams. The smallest good deed produces more than the greatest intention. You will find an empty dream if you put nothing into it. Everytime one person expresses an idea, he finds 10 others who thought of it before but took no action. Ideas times nothing equals nothing. It takes work. Even a mosquito doesn’t get a slap on the back until he starts to work.”
We are all born lazy. In the first years of life, people do most things for us. We get used to it. We soon learn that work isn’t at all pleasant and we do what we need to in order to avoid it as best as we can.
But success and ultimately happiness will depend on work and on how much we are willing to take it upon ourselves. Even solid and mature loving makes many demands on us and calls for sacrifices that few are willing to make.
In fact, we have this Hollywoodish thinking that love just happens effortlessly. Great lovers make it look easy, not because it’s easy but because they work together so well.
If you want to succeed, roll up your sleeves and get down to work. Forget playing the Lotto and hanging around casinos hoping to make it big in an instant. The words of the manager of a casino should keep ringing in your ears. “You might beat the house tonight,” he said, “but you’ll return tomorrow and we will get it all back. . . and then some.”
It should be an encouragement to you to know that nobody is immune to problems. “Even the lion,” says Mason, “has to fight off flies.”
Expect difficulties, and don’t run from them. Instead, you should welcome them because you will find success somewhere there hidden among them. You will rarely find Lady Luck in the stories of successful people. If she does appear, it is only for an instant and then she is gone. Success can be found among obstacles and difficulties and is given to those who are brave enough to venture among them.
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