Ten seconds. Ten seconds is all it takes to continue when you feel like quitting. Surely, you can hang in ten seconds more. When those ten seconds end, continue for another ten seconds, then another ten seconds. Before you know it, you’ll be looking back and thinking, ‘Wow, I did it. I didn’t quit.’
The Seedling
Paul Laurence Dunbar
As a quiet little seedling
Lay within its darksome bed,
To itself it fell a-talking,
And this is what it said:
“I am not so very robust,
But I’ll do the best I can;”
And the seedling from that moment
Its work of life began.
So it pushed a little leaflet
Up into the light of day,
To examine the surroundings
And show the rest the way.
The leaflet liked the prospect,
So it called its brother, Stem;
Then two other leaflets heard it,
And quickly followed them.
To be sure, the haste and hurry
Made the seedling sweat and pant;
But almost before it knew it
It found itself a plant.
The sunshine poured upon it,
And the clouds they gave a shower;
And the little plant kept growing
Till it found itself a flower.
Little folks, be like the seedling,
Always do the best you can;
Every child must share life’s labor
Just as well as every man.
And the sun and showers will help you
Through the lonesome, struggling hours,
Till you raise to light and beauty
Virtue’s fair, unfading flowers.
Today is a mysterious treasure waiting for you to discover its wonders. There are opportunities everywhere. It doesn’t matter who we are or our status in life, the treasures are waiting for us. Keep an open mind, the day’s treasures may be different than what we wanted or expected, but they’re there and they are waiting for you.
Feeling Stuck? Feeling like you’re running a streak of bad luck? Don’t give up. You never know when the tide will turn. My experience tells me if I hang in there long enough, through all the crap that’s coming my way, I’ll come out of it just fine. The tide always turns. Your turn is coming. It will bang on your door and you’ll hear it shouting to you if you don’t give up. Never quit.
“Use all your hidden forces. Do not miss the purpose of this life, and do not wait for circumstance to mould or change your fate.
“There is a giant asleep within every man. When that giant awakes, miracles happen.”
It Couldn’t Be Done
Edgar Guest
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
