One student at the community college where I used to work had some issue where his legs didn’t work normally. He walked using crutches attached to his forearms, and even then, he limped down the hall, swaying and staggering, as if he were a marionette controlled by someone continually being stung by bees. Just seeing the amount of time and effort it took him to get to class put other students to shame. I’d see him studying in the hall, the tutoring center, the library, and the computer lab. This was while some other students skipped class and didn’t bother to do their homework.
He came to mind recently, and I used him as a measure of hard work and dedication. I had to take a look at my goals and ask myself if I showed up every day, if I was putting in as much time and effort as I could, if I kept going even when things weren’t easy, if I was living up to my potential. Not at all.
Some days, the most challenging part of working on a project is getting started, getting in the flow. My new trick is that I vow to put the same amount of effort into my project as I imagine it took for that student to get to his classroom. After that, it’s usually smooth sailing.