Being the typical over-thinker that I am, I caught myself in a spiral of thoughts last night, and I ended up thinking about the effects of good and bad teachers on our lives.
I was reminiscing on some of the best teachers that I’ve had and some of the great pieces of advice that I’ve heard from them. I heard these back when I was in school, and surprisingly, I still remember and follow them to this day.
I wanted to share these thoughts with you hoping that it will help you in some way or another. Let’s get right into it.
- Try your best not to make excuses in life. Look into the bright side of every problem and keep working.
Back in 2016, there was one day in school were I was feeling a little under the weather, and I remember using my sickness as an excuse for not completing my homework.
I still remember this very vividly, because I came back home that day and thought about it a lot. I remember how angry it made my French teacher.
She immediately asked me, “Are you going to make such a silly excuse? Do you know how many people with major health issues and disabilities achieve great things in life?”
Hard questions. But she was 100% right. And my 17-year-old self had no answer for her.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take her advice seriously at the time. But now, years later, I understand the value of that statement. Every time I try to come up with an excuse to procrastinate, I remember my French teachers’ words, “Are you going to make such a silly excuse?”.
Excuses make us feel like victims. A typical excuse may sound different from this, but essentially what it means is — ‘I am a victim of this, so I’m not able to do this’.
That sounds like a weak statement when you word it like this. But it helps you see the true side of it.
I recently started watching a Netflix documentary called ‘The Playbook — A Coach’s Rules for Life’. In the first episode, Doc Rivers, a famous basketball coach, talks about how he helped his team with a certain impediment.
He kept repeating ‘We will not be a victim’ to make his team forget the issue and focus on the game.
I was reminded of my French teacher’s advice when I saw this, almost a decade after first hearing it! I strongly believe that this will be etched in me forever.
2. You have a lot of talent in you, but you are not as good as some of the others just because you’re getting outworked.
It still pisses me off to this day that I didn’t take this advice seriously. It was during one of my English classes(can’t remember if it was in 2016 or 2017), as my teacher was grading an answer sheet, she said this to me.
And again, my young and careless mind didn’t understand why she said that, but now it makes sense. Through experience, I’ve learned that talent without hard work is not of much use, especially if you’re trying to achieve great things.
All my life, I’ve heard people around me say I have great potential to do great things. I feel like I’ve let all that talk water down my need to work. I had never spent any time understanding the importance of deliberate effort.
With time, and a growing interest in self-development, I’m constantly learning the value of deliberate and consistent effort.
I remember a Mike Tyson interview when he was in his prime, the interviewer asked him something about his great talent, and he immediately said “Talent? I don’t believe in talent. You need a lot of willpower and determination to get here”.
Every time I watch a motivational speech on the internet that talks on this topic, I remember the words of my English teacher that I heard many years ago. It is something that will serve as a constant reminder in my life.
I hope that these words will be of great value as you read this. Use this as a constant reminder to keep yourself motivated. If you have similar experiences hearing great pieces of advice, do share them in the comments. Thanks.
Wordsbykenaniah 