Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Day to Day Grinding

One of the things that I enjoy the most about servinemup.com and the whole writing experience, is when I’m able to transform a thought, or feeling, or experience into words. It’s the most fulfilling when a person who has no idea who I am, can still FEEL what I’m writing about. Last Tuesday’s ‘Hittin Licks’ post generated a lot of positive feedback from readers via comments and emails that I received after it posted.

It seems the general consensus was able to discern the humor amidst the reality, and for that I’m pleased. But what pleases me even more, is when I’m able to draw in people who aren’t traditional ‘readers’. Not just servinemup.com readers, but people who don’t normally read at all unless they absolutely have to. People who only pick up a newspaper when they’re looking for the movie listings, or people who only pick up a book because its required for school or work. People who’s only source of information to what’s going on in the world is what they happen to hear on their local radio DJ announce between their favorite songs. These are the people that I always try to leave a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow. Because my ultimate goal is to teach all that I know, to those that don’t know.

A lot of my family and friends know that I have an engineering degree from Stanford and they think that I’m ‘smart’. Likewise, a lot of my Stanford friends have sat next to me in a Western Culture class and they think I’m a complete idiot. I don’t have a photographic memory or any supernatural speed reading powers. Most of the things I read, I have to read at least 2 or 3 times to make sure I understand what’s going on. Too many times people become ‘lazy’ readers..skimming through until they happen upon a keyword that catches their attention. FREE. Or maybe they come upon a word that they don’t know how to pronounce or know its meaning..and instead of getting a dictionary to look it up, or figuring it out by the context clues, they just go on without even attempting to expand their vocabulary. Ignorance is not when you don’t know something, ignorance is when you know you don’t know something and you make no attempt to learn.

Of all the things I’ve learned in classrooms, corporate training and just plain ol life experiences, I know hard work is a staple ingredient to being successful. Because of all the different schemes and scandals involved in ‘hitting licks’, the most time-proven method of making money is hard work. It’s this consistent pattern of daily labor that separates the have’s from the have nots.

Sean ‘P-Diddy’ Combs, Mark Cuban, Oprah, Tiger Woods, all of these successful people share a common trait of what we on the Southside call ‘grinding’. Most people want to just hit the jackpot on the Powerball Lotto and not have to worry about money the rest of their lives. Truly successful people don’t have a monetary limit or goal, their focus is on their function. Whether its engineering, teaching, truck driving, real estate investment, whatever it is that their talents and opportunities lie, they make a dedicated commitment toward achieving. Grinding. And the most rewarding grind of all is the grind for knowledge. Because knowledge is an investment that will continue to pay dividends over the course of a lifetime and as we say on the Southside, “You’ve got to grind to shine.”

Welcome Houston Community College-Clear Lake Campus and Southeast Barber College..consider yourself served.