Hard work wasn’t rewarded in my family, it was expected. Whether it was my great grandmother, or my mother and father, they all showed us the value of hard work. They set a gold standard.
We didn’t learn by watching, we learned by doing. I remember spending hours under a baking, St. Louis sun, replacing roofs. I got up at 4 a.m. with my brother so we could work a paper route. We spent five hours each Saturday and Sunday cleaning my Uncle’s bar.
If these jobs all sound tough, they were. I would have much rather been playing Nintendo or basketball, but we worked instead.
What I didn’t know at the time was how much I was learning from this work.
The first thing it did was motivate me to never have to do these jobs again. The second thing it taught me was that getting what I want starts and ends with hard work.
Fast forward to 1999. I’m a senior in college and I’m searching for my first job. This is a big step. It will be my first real job after college. I’ll be moving to a different city and starting a life on my own.
Our school put together a job fair and one company caught my eye. It was a software company in Austin, TX called Trilogy. They were different from everyone else and I wanted to learn more.
As I got to know the people and the company, I made up my mind. This is where I wanted to work.
As I researched the company I heard about their interview process. It was brutal. Most people didn’t make it through. Besides the normal questions, they would also ask brain teasers. If you think these are tough to answer, imagine what it’s like under the stress of an interview.
At the time, I knew this was a make or break part of the process. I also knew I couldn’t control the outcome, but I could control my effort.
I went out and bought Mindtrap. It’s a game full of brain teasers, that promises to “challenge the way you think.” I knew that to improve my chances of getting the questions right, I had to train my brain. I spent countless hours reading these cards. On the flight down, I spent 2.5 hours practicing. When I got to Austin, I practiced some more.
My thought process was simple. I knew I wasn’t the smartest person they were going to interview. But, if I couldn’t win on intelligence, I had to win on hard work.
It was a grueling day of interviews. Afterwards, we all headed downtown and had a great time. The next day, I flew back to Nashville and waited.
The call came later that week. I was in. I got the job!
What happened with the brain teasers? I got every one right. I also learned that the answer was not near as important as the thought process. The practice I put in trained me to think, and that is what helped me get the job.
At an early age I learned that life isn’t easy. I learned success isn’t easy. Getting what you want out of life takes hard work. It’s that simple.
Because of hard work, I was able to make money to buy my first car. Because of hard work, I broke school track records. Because of hard work, I got into Vanderbilt. Because of hard work, I got my first job out of college. Because of hard work, I am achieving my goals faster than I thought was possible.
The author, B. J. Gupta said it best, “Hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but improves its chances.”
This post is part of a series of letters to my kids. My goal is to reflect on and capture as many life lessons as possible. Here is the current list I am working from.
