I have not written in quite some time, and I have blurbs of ideas saved all over the place. In WordPress drafts, in my Apple notes, written down in notebooks, some saved to memory. All awaiting a moment to sit down and just put my fingers to the keyboard, or even just to recapture the inspiration that started the thought in the first place.

While going through those drafts, I found this one, from four years ago. My oldest baby is in high school and this is about his 5th grade end of year quote. It struck a chord with me because I had not published it (why, I do not know), but, here it is…..

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This week I received an email regarding my oldest son’s yearbook quote. Apparently his elementary school does an entire photo op for the 5th graders along with requiring them to choose a quote to go along with said photo op. Of course, being the control freak I am, I decided I was just going to find something for him and send it to the teacher. But then I decided against that. I decided that he could choose his own, that I wanted him to choose his own, this is a memory for him to look back on, this is his personality that he wants portrayed to others. Not mine. So I charged him with the task of finding his own yearbook quote.

Now, before I share with you what he chose, I want you to understand that my son is known for his intelligence, hard work in school  as well as his mature demeanor. I take a lot of pride in being his mother and watching his overall growth. This is the quote that my son chose as his 5th grade yearbook quote…..

Success is not an accident, it’s hard work.

There are several due the credit of having said this, in some shape form or fashion. I made sure to ask him in order to give credit, where credit was due. And I have to tell Stephen Curry, point guard for the Golden State Warriors, thank you.

And Stephen, as well as Gavin, are correct in saying this. We look at those around us who are successful, who are like, “BOOM!”, those who are the game changers, the ones that the rest of us look up to. And it’s not an accident, people don’t trip and fall into success, people are not provided opportunities of success because of an accident. The definition of accident is: an event that occurs without deliberate cause. If success is one thing, it is certainly deliberate.

The thing about hard work, is that it is just that. It’s hard. Not every day is going to be easy. Not every day is going to be an inspiration that motivates you. Not every day is going to end in achievement. It’s hard. It’s grueling. It’s sometimes ugly and dirty. But, all of a sudden, when you’re in the trenches, willing to get your hands dirty, when you’re putting in that HARD WORK, you look up and realize that success has happened. You’ve reached your goal…..and set out to reach another one.

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My hope for my oldest, as he continues his high school career, is that he is successful, and that he remembers that his success is determined by his own hard work.