Success: The Forgotten Goal

Success: The Forgotten Goal
By Matthew Q. Llewellyn

Hey there folks... Matthew Q. here... that's right... you guessed it. Something has completely set me off and after having a highly trained team of medical professionals bring my blood pressure down from stroke level, I'm ready to abuse the poor keys on this laptop and subject you to yet another thought from... Inside the mind of Matt.

Let's talk about success. Actually... let's talk about failure first. I think that's a good place to begin. Kind of the whole chicken and egg deal though don't you think? Anyway...

What is failure? Is it an ending? Perhaps a beginning? What do you think?... No ... I'll wait ... go ahead and think about it.
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Enough time? Well you're wrong... unless you answered "both", in which case, you're right. Failure is a two part option, being either an ending or a beginning... but never both of them at the same time. I'll explain...

Failure can do one of two things, it can teach you how not to do something, or, it can teach you that something is not possible. The choice is yours. And it is this choice that decides if you will be a failure, or a success.

You might wonder what got me all upset about this whole success/failure thing. To cure your curiosity, it was minimum wage. A classmate and I, who are friends with very differing political views, in that I'm right and he's wrong, spend our breaks debating various topics. The topic of the past few debates is obvious.

He explained how he believes every worker should receive a fair wage for an honest days work... and I agree. It's the amount we have an issue with. He believes you should not be allowed to pay any worker less than $10.00 per hour. I believe you should be able to pay them whatever you feel they are worth to you, as an employer, whether that's $25.00 or $5.00 per hour is up to you. Logic dictates that they more valuable and difficult to replace they are, the more you will pay to keep them.

What makes me right and him wrong? Good question with a good answer.

I believe in individual responsibility... he does not.

We brought up the topic of janitors within a company. Let's be honest. If I am an employer, why should I have to pay you $10.00 per hour? I can train a monkey to scrub a toilet, sweep a floor and take out the trash and pay him with bananas. Being a janitor is an unskilled/uneducated labor position. Does this mean you have no skills or education? Of course not. You might be the most intelligent man in the world. However, you are not applying for the position of most intelligent man in the world, you are applying for the position of unskilled/uneducated janitor.

Why do I consider it unskilled/uneducated? Because it is. You don't need any type of education to push a broom or clean a toilet. And as far as skill is concerned, a skill, generally, is a trade. It is a specialized amount of applicable knowledge and talent within your desired field. Emptying the trash is not a talent.

Want to learn a little about my history? Tough, I'm going to tell you anyway. I was a Janitor folks... I was an 18 year old 8th grade drop out and the only job I could obtain was Janitor. It wasn't a horrible job, it just paid horribly and was very physically hard work at times. I spent a lot of time sweating and a lot of time doing a lot of things I didn't want to do. But it was honest work, and it was what I was capable of doing. Without sounding boastful, I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent, self educated individual... but without the credentials to prove it, in the work world, I was worth nothing. I was of no value to them. Just as quickly as they had hired me, they could had have dozens and dozens of unskilled and uneducated workers lined up around the block.

So... if you know me, you know where I am today. I'm not by any means rich, in fact, I don't make that much money at all. But, I have been very successful in my career, I've achieved in a few years what takes most people 20 and 30 years to achieve. However, I'm still in school to this day. Why? Because with as much as I've done and achieved, I want to achieve bigger and better things. I'm not happy settling where I'm at. I'm the kind of person who is constantly looking for the next set of stairs or ladder. I am constantly seeking a new way to improve my current condition. The only way to improve your condition is to take action to change it. Remember... the only action produced by complacency is death.

What set me apart from other drop outs? Ambition. I wanted to be more than what I was. I wanted to excel to my greatest potential. I wanted to make a mark on the world, to make a difference. And of course, I wanted more money. Let's face it... we all want more money.

Of course lazy people want these things as well. They want more money. They want more out of life. They want bigger homes, better cars and bigger TVs. However, they don't want to work for those things. They want, but they have no ambition to get them there. They are lazy. All they see in front of them is challenge, pain, heartache and headache. I assure you, going to school nearly 40 hours per week and working 48 hours per week is no easy task. I know, I do it. Looking at that road in front of me I know what I see. Month after month becoming years of little sleep. Months after month becoming years of spending as much time at work as I do between school and study groups. I see financial hardships. I see myself watching every penny I spend. I see myself not having health insurance (which, I have opted to not have since I don't get sick so I have a larger check). I see myself not taking vacations, not going to the lake, not going on trips, concerts, etc and so on. I see myself spending my entire life between work and school. And of course, when I do take some time for myself, I will spend my time learning as much as I possibly can about the current political happenings and as I am able, sharing my thoughts with as many people as possible.

I tell you... the road in front, which I can clearly see, sucks. But, I love it. Why? Because I choose to ignore the negative and find the positive. I choose to find the irony of situations and laugh at hardships. And... most importantly... I see the end of the road. I know there will come a time when all of this is behind me and I never have to think about it again. There will be a point where I never again have to say "If I had ____ I could have jumped after that career opportunity", because I will have it. Truly... there is no such thing as luck, only opportunity met by preparation.

What's my point here? My point is this. No one just automatically deserves to take home a certain hourly pay. If you want to make more, you have to do what is required to make more. It's hard, but, nothing good in life ever comes easy. For every great reward there is first a great challenge. If the challenge was not great, the reward would not be great.

The Founding Fathers taught us, that while every American has the right to life, liberty and happiness, it is up to each of them to reach out and grab it on their own. It's not any ones responsibility to make sure you make it except your own. Sure, you might have some help along the way, possibly from family, friends, tuition, etc... but... you have to reach out and get it. You have to put in the time... you have to put in the effort. You have to make a choice to apply the time and effort required to overcome the obstacles in front of you, no matter what they are, and end up at the desired goal. It's all about choice. And just as it is your choice to achieve success, it is your choice to achieve failure. The only way you fail is if you choose to fail. Which brings our ending, back to the beginning of this little rant of mine.

If, when you fail, you learn how to not do something, then you have not failed, but rather, have learned. But, when you fail, if you chose to allow it to become an object which you can not overcome, then you are not only a failure, but you deserve the failure life which you have chosen. You don't deserve to be taken care of by hard working, achieving, successful citizens, you deserve to have us light a fire under your butt so you'll get off the couch, quit playing x-box, get an education and make something of yourself.

Henry Ford said "Whether you believe you can or can't, you're right."

Believe you can succeed and success you will become. Believe you can do nothing, likewise you shall become it. Choose to succeed then you have earned it. Choose to be nothing then you deserve it.

I bid you farewell and good day my friends.



COPYRIGHT © 2009. Matthew Q. Llewellyn. All Rights Reserved.