Why Is Hard Work Important

My twelve year-old self bolted out of the Carteret Middle School doors and into the icy cold. I had thirteen minutes to make it across town to the library where I would begin my first job as a tutor. The shiny, slippery ground mocked me as I stepped cautiously forward. It seemed to be willing me to fall, to give up. My father would have driven me had he not been in the hospital or rehabilitation center off and on for the past two years. I continued walking as fast as my legs could safely carry me while I thought about what I would make for dinner, and how I would take care of my seven year old sister now that my mother had to return to work. This unfamiliar process quickly became commonplace. I understood that it was now part of my responsibility to contribute to my family to help sustain us financially. The day described and the subsequent years surrounding my father’s descent into permanent disability impacted my life in a way that I could have never been expected. However, the experiences taught me a great deal about who I am as a person as well as the value of a dollar, the importance of hard work, and the …show more content…
It is because I had to work from such an early age that I am truly able to understand the importance of self-discipline and what it means to work hard for everything you have. No one truly understands the value of money until they have none. You cannot understand what it is like to be desperate until you step into an ice cold shower in the middle of winter because it is too expensive to always keep the water heater on. Myself and desperation were on a first name basis but I am determined to make us strangers. Over the course of the past few years I have let the idea of success following hard work consume me. When my body begged for sleep my mind spurred me on. It was this dedication to success that has led me to becoming the deeply focused person I am