A few years back, I was invited to speak in front of a group of High School seniors. I was wearing a suit and at the very beginning of my talk, wanting to prove a point about perception, I asked the students, based on what you see, what was I voted my senior year of high school? I gave them some examples so they knew what I meant, i.e.. most likely to go to space, etc.
The answers came quickly:
After I asked them about me, I then asked them to guess, again, simply based on what they saw in me at the head of the room, what did my parents do for a living while I was growing up?
The answers were:
All of their guesses were wrong. I was voted class clown and teachers worst nightmare. My father, a high school dropout who spent 20 years on active duty in the Army was accompanied by my mother, who after completing high school, did many types of jobs based on where we were living at the time. At the time of my high school graduation, they were both over the road truck drivers.
For too often, success in life is often discounted based on perception. The struggle to achieve something is often times ignored and yes, it does matter. For me, it matters because it was the foundation for my life, the good and the bad. I'm not special, I'm not unique, I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth; however, I am different. Different because I believe, at my core, that never in life will you encounter a problem where an excuse is the solution. I believe in figuring it out.
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