When I grew up, we really didn’t have a whole lot compared with these kids now-a-days (I totally just sounded old!). My brother and I grew up in a middle-class family in Buffalo, NY. Dad was a cop and mom had her own photography business. We had a comfortable home.
My mom especially, taught my brother and I to be very self-sufficient when we were younger. We kinda had to. Nothing was really “given” to us. We worked for it.
At the age of 11, I got a paper route! Back in the 80’s, kids were the ones who mostly delivered the newspapers! I had my own wagon for the Sunday papers cause they were so full of ads and then had my trusty paper bag for the other days. Every day after school, I lugged those freakin’ newspapers up and down 1.5 streets after school on the weekdays and in the mornings super early on the weekends. Rain or snow. They didn’t care! The newspapers had to be delivered or there was hell to pay. God forbid that you didn’t put it in the front or the side door or whatever each client wanted. I wonder sometimes how the heck I retained all of that information for the 80-100 houses I delivered to, but somehow I did. THEN each week, we had to “collect” for the payment of the newspapers. That was fun…said no one ever. Imagine a young kid knocking on your door asking for payment for the weekly newspaper delivery. I am laughing as I write about this now. I had to grow some proverbial “balls” to do this because it was quite intimidating and I quickly learned that there are a lot of strange people in this world!!
BUT…When Christmastime came around, it was alllllll worth it!! We would rake in some massive tips!! The other 11 months of total suck became totally doable because during the month of December, we could rake in like $300 bucks in tips in a month. That was a LOT of money for a kid in the 80’s. I was RICH!! Ha!
Fast forward a few years and I was working at the age of 15 at Bells Bazaar (supermarket) as a cashier. I would walk there on the way home from High School. (DO notice I said WALK!!! We walked about 2 miles a day each way to school. Rain, snow and sun, people!! No, I wasn’t barefoot and it wasn’t uphill.) I would work for 3 hours or whatever was allowed by law and then either get picked up or walk home.
We didn’t have designer clothes because first, we could never afford those and second, I didn’t give a shit about that back then. I didn’t know what those things were. We didn’t have fancy stuff. All was good in the world. Somehow, I survived.
One of my parents (I forgot who) co-signed on a loan with me for $1200 so that I could buy my first car. It was a sexy light green Oldsmobile Supreme. Oh how I loved that car. Sweet Freedom!! I paid it back out of my money that I earned from work…$100 per month for 12 months. BAM. The car was MINE!!
I used to compare myself to others and what THEY got and honestly, back then, I used to get a little jealous when my friends’ parents bought them a car or took them on fancy ski vacations.
NOW…I am so very thankful to my parents to NOT spoiling me. Best lessons ever. You want something? Well, you WORK for it!!
So many people have asked me…”What is your secret to success?”.
Bottom line: I work my ASS off.
When I work, I work. Laser-focused, no goofing around, no laziness or putting stuff off for tomorrow. Get it done and do it RIGHT the first time (Dad did teach me this!) Daily grind. Period.
When things are given to you, entitlement happens. Spoiled kids = lazy adults. Sorry. It is true. What a disservice people are doing for their kids when they give them everything.
Why are so many people afraid to work hard now-a-days?
Working hard is the ONLY way to be successful. Success is not given to you, it is EARNED. You don’t “deserve” to be successful. You are only successful if you work at it every day.
Can I get an amen?
Jen
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| My trusty sign in my home office 🙂 |