[tdarko]

gumpzilla,

In the Cardo thread it was mentioned (maybe correctly) that he was lazy because of fear, Limon started this idea and El D rammed it home I believe. A few years back I used to be this way. I, like much of the people on this website it seems did well on aptitude tests and I am also athletic. Instead of using my abilities for good, I used them as a crutch and coasted through all phases of school. I never studied in HS but who needs to, it's a joke. In college I slacked off and got by and when I was questioned why I didn't do better b/c surely my ability was better than average I would always pawn it off on effort...this was so easy. With athletics I was naturally better than everyone in HS and in HS I lived in an area that had a ton of talent around me. I went to college for sports, not academics. I worked hard but I can honestly say that I didn't completely devote myself.

Then one day I realized that as the talent (in sports or business whatever the task is) increases, the difference between the competition gets smaller and smaller. Meaning that you have to start working for what you want to abtain b/c the difference a lot of the time comes down to effort and time invested, not talent b/c the talent difference can be so small. When I realized this in sports I dedicated myself. I went from pretty good to successful. Then it clicked, this is how everything should be done, not just what you enjoy because anyone can bust their ass at what they are passionate about but sometimes you have to bust your ass when you don't necessarily want to.

Some of my proudest achievements were the toughest to get to and were achieved from sacrificing the most.