THRIVE! Talkin'!

Don't just read the newsletter, live it!
Jump into the THRIVE! forum and get set for success!

School Daze

It's that time of year again. The days are getting a bit shorter and the temperature is dropping a bit. You know what that means. It's back to school season. Elated parents and bummed out kids everywhere have begun to rebuild their lives following a summer hiatus that was hopefully safe, fun, and memorable.

All of this school activity has made me a bit nostalgic. I recently thought back to my school days as a young boy in Columbia, Missouri. At the time, I was sporting the classic 1970's bowl cut, the blue and white parochial uniform, and my beloved Trapper Keeper. (Player!) I was short, a bit awkward, and pretty much confused as I roamed the halls. Some things never change.

I now realize that one of the first lessons grade school teachers cover is actually a life lesson in disguise. You see, a critical foundation of the learning process in any school setting is simply this: "Do your own work". (Another popular lesson, "Don't eat paste" is also pretty valuable.) "Do your own work" means that you can't succeed solely through the efforts of others. Sure you can have a study buddy, but you still have to master the material on your own.

I've found that "do your own work" continues to be great advice in adulthood. For many of us, there are simply too many times that we have others do our work for us. I'm not talking about that killer presentation you gave at work last week. (Way to go, by the way.) No, I'm talking about the hard work of defining our personal values, opinions, lifestyle, activities, and other important aspects of our lives. Many of us are very caught up in what our boss thinks, what our mom thinks, what our neighbor thinks, and what the guy-in-line-next-to-you-at-the-supermarket-who-you'll-probably-never-see-again-but-who-you-still-don't-want-to-see-you-buying-Vogue thinks.

You can never find true success if you live by someone else's rules. Sure, social pressures will try to tell you what to wear, where to live, and what to drive. Why fall prey to Madison Avenue or the Joneses? Sure, peer pressure at work and in social circles can be hard to overcome at times. Isn't it more important to think and act in a way you feel most comfortable? I'm not suggesting that you ignore the opinions of others, only that you make sure your own are clearly in place first.

If you want to be successful, you must define your own personal objectives and lifestyle. You must work tirelessly to live a life that is clearly in alignment with your deeply held personal attributes. An external definition of success can never be achieved. Start from the heart before heading down a road as important as "the rest of your life".

Do your own work. Of all the things we learned in school, I think that lesson ranks right up there. Unlike algebra.