Hard Work can Achieve a lot

Henggao - Princeton Junction, New Jersey
Entered on January 18, 2009
Age Group: Under 18
Themes: work

There are many people in the world that have come a long way because of the hard work they put in. Some of those people are like Barack Obama, and my tennis coach, Ed Tseng. They were both very average students in school, but they eventually turned out to be successful. Obama was just an average student that got from Columbia to Harvard. My Tennis coach moved from an average student to failing out of college twice to a successful tennis author and coach. That is why I believe that working hard and staying positive can achieve a lot.

My first example is Barack Obama. Barack Obama was a young boy born in Hawaii. His dad was African American and his mom was white. He was also raised by his Caucasian grandparents in Hawaii. When he was at school, he was just an average student. He did not have the best grades, but he still ended up in Columbia and Harvard University. At Harvard, he was the first African American on the Harvard Review Board. From an average student to a Harvard graduate and now he ended up as President of the United States of America. This proves that hard work can achieve a lot. In Barack Obama’s speeches, I can feel that he has taken time to write and consult with his colleagues. The speeches during the campaign represent the tireless work he has done. He is one of those people who could rise to the situation.

Presidents aren’t the only people who start with little experience about the job. Great Athletes, writers, and scientist all started out learning the basics, but what makes them great is the amount of hard work that they put in. They all work hard and strive for greatness. They want to learn more. Eventually, those same people would start making Success. One of those people is Ed Tseng.

I remember during the summer of 2008, I was taking a tennis camp. My coach is also an author and his book, Game. Set. Life: Peak Performance for Sports and Life has the keys to success. His name is Ed Tseng and I really enjoy him as my tennis coach. He always starts the camp with a warm –up because he believes the warm-up not only starts our body physically, but mentally. After the warm-up he would give a motivational story. The story always relate to success in life. I remember one of the stories was about a group of frogs. Several of the frogs fell in a hole and they all try to get out, but the other frogs were saying, “give up, you’re not going to make it.”

Then there was this one frog that tried to work as hard as he can to jump out and he finally reached the surface. Then the other frogs were saying, “Why didn’t you listen to us? We were all telling to give up.”

The frog said, “I’m sorry, but I’m deaf.”

That story had many different lessons to be learned and one of them is keeping on trying. It doesn’t matter if the other person or team’s about to win because your extra effort might help the team catch up. That is the lesson that I learned from it because I try to keep optimistic. If the country’s economy got worse and Obama did not stay optimistic, then it might stay worse. Staying hopeful and positive is what makes a lost look like a won. Staying positive and hopeful is what makes me work harder.

The lesson I learned about working hard and staying positive is a lesson the whole world needs to know.