Hard Work by Paul

Hard Work by Paul - March 2017 Scholarship Essay

The value of hard work and perseverance is what I would like to talk to my school about. My parents, coaches and teachers have all instilled in me that the most valuable thing you can have in life is a good work ethic, because you don’t get the things you want in life by chance, you earn them. People who are the best at what they do didn’t just become amazing by chance. Lebron James didn’t pick up a basketball and instantly become the greatest basketball player alive, and John Legend didn’t just sit in front of a piano and compose masterful pieces that same day. They worked, every day for hours and hours striving for perfection. If I was speaking in front of my school, I would explain to them that every single one of us has the opportunity and potential to be just as good as, and better than a Bill Gates, or Roger Federer. All these extremely successful people were just like us at one point; they were all seventeen, or eighteen at one point, graduating high school, thinking about their future. The difference between those extremely successful people, and the people sitting all around them at graduation was the work ethic, passion, and desire to be the best at what they do. The message I want to get across is that could be any one of us. Kids in my school don’t believe they can be that successful but they’re wrong. Why can’t it be us? Why can’t one of us be the next greatest artist, chef, musician, or whatever it may be? The answer is it can, there is nothing holding us back, if you have a dream all you have to do is go and get it. Everyone can do something amazing, and to think otherwise is selling yourself short. I’m not saying it’s easy, but I’m saying it’s possible, and possible is all anyone needs.
One of the things that frustrates me the most about students in my school is the excuses they make for why they can’t do what they really want or why they can’t work hard for it. A student might say “I don’t have the money to do it”, and to me that’s a total disappointment. It does not matter where you came from or how much money you were born into, that is not an excuse. There are professional athletes that were raised with siblings and only one parent to provide for them with a minimum-wage job. And yet there are others that had two supporting, millionaire parents that could send them off to any college they wanted and get any job they wanted. But those people chose to work for something greater, they didn’t have to, but they made a conscious decision every day to ne great at something. Another excuse a student might say is “I don’t have the time”. Why not? Is working to be the best at something you love not worth it? Even if you fail, would you rather not pursue your dreams and always wonder what could have been, or would you rather go for it? Personally, baseball is my passion, and I grind and work my butt off every day to be good as humanly possible. Making the major leagues is extremely difficult, but why can’t I do it? The only person stopping me is me. Maybe I fail and I never get there, but that’s alright. I can live with knowing I gave it my absolute all and coming up short, I cannot live with settling for something different and having doubts of what I could’ve been and where I could’ve gone.
If I had to tell my classmates one thing, it would be that if you’re willing to put in the work anything is possible and if you have a dream then go for it.