Your shit IS epic.
So, I was at an elementary school yesterday. I had volunteered to read "The Three Little Pigs" to a bunch of misbehaved 6 year olds. When I say misbehaved, I mean they are troubled youth.
I opened the book to page one. It started something like this, "One day, three little pigs decided it was time to set off on their own. They packed their stuff and kissed their mother goodbye. Mama pig gave the little pigs one piece of advice before they left."
In everything you do, do it as well as you can.
When I read that line, I stood up, closed the book, and looked at the class in the eye. You can tell they were like, 'what the hell is this guy in a pink pin striped bath robe going to do now?" Well little kid, I'm about to change the way you do shit.
You see, The Three Little pigs is one of those rare books that gives you the moral of the story and then proves its usefulness. COMPLETELY underrated story in my opinion.
Anyways, I disrobed. Don't worry, I was wearing clothes underneath. I made a few short paces before telling everyone to stand up. I asked them, "What do you guys want, what is it you are here for, and tell me about a goal that you have." I got a ton of mixed answers, but was waiting for something in particular.
Finally, one young girl (named Riley) told me, "I want to sing, I love it, and I like getting dressed pretty, and I want people to buy my music. My mom told me I have to go to school first."
Well little Riley you've got a pretty big dream. Without telling her how ambitious this was, I gave her this advice:
When you've set a goal, or decided that you really want to achieve something, there is only one thing that stands in your way.... YOU. Naturally, she looked at my completely confused. So I explained. There are going to come times when things you don't like or don't want to do stand in your way. I like to call these temptations of failure.
Like anyone would, she asked "What kind of things?" I told her, with singing, it's going to be things like working hard somewhere else so that you can afford to produce a quality song. Or it's going to be something like caring deeply about your first fan, even if they're stalkerish and have boogers hanging out of their nose. She laughed of course.
Temptations of failure can jump out of places you would have never guessed they were hiding. I told her about when I first decided I wanted to build a business on the internet. I explained how marketing, building, and understanding it all was VERY overwhelming. She said, "Wow you had to learn all of that?"
I said, "Yep, and you're going to have to learn stuff like that to. That's why you have to decide what you REALLY want."
The rest of the classroom by this time was completely entranced by our conversation. Several other teachers were now listening to our exchange and a bit speechless.
Eventually we got to the discussion of school. She says, "How is me being here going to help me with the things that I want?" Being about 6, you can imagine the attitude she had when she said that.
I asked, "Who is your favorite singer?" I was completely expecting her to say Taylor Swift ... I mean who doesn't love that long legged figure of my fantasies, right?
She goes, "I am".
Wise beyond her years. I proceeded to tell the class that enjoying the work that someone else does is great and it is meant to inspire you to do great things, but you should NEVER try to do something just so you can be like someone else.
I gave them some examples of how they can make these small changes. "When you wake up and pick out your clothes, don't choose them because you saw someone else you know wearing them. Pick out clothes that you love and are happy in. When you're singing in the bathtub and banging on your shampoo bottles with a toothbrush, don't try to sound like someone else. Use YOUR voice and put everything that you are feeling into it."
Back to the little girl, I said "You sweetheart, seem to already have some of this stuff figured out. I know you're going to do great things. Will you start by coming up here and singing for us?"
She was hesitant, but I gave her a look and said, "Are you going to let temptation of failure stand in your way?" She stepped right up.
I'm not going to lie to you, she didn't have one of those jaw-dropping voices. What she DID though was unique, full of heart, passionate, and nothing but HER. Because of that, I would listen to her sing all day. Her music was EPIC to me and the rest of the class because of the things she conquered to stand up their and share something no one else could.
When she was done, there was an uproar, and suddenly she had 23 fans. She looked at me and said, "How do you know all this stuff?"
I replied, "I don't. In everything I do, I just do the best that I can."
The Simple Guide:
1. Set goals and understand that to achieve them you're going to have to do things you don't enjoy, or don't want to do.
2. Know that YOU have something unique in what you want to accomplish, share it proudly.
3. Never settle for less than your BEST at anything, even when temptations of failure arise.
4. Care about the people you are sharing your journey with. They will always big huge supporters.
5. While working towards your goals, use your experiences to help other achieve theirs.
How this can be used for Neo
A lot of us cheaters/players have certain things we want to accomplish. Avatars, stamps, trophies, etc. Sometimes we think, "Is the work we have to put in worth it?" Well, you have to decide if it's something you really want. If it is, do everything you can to your best. Personal achievement/competition.
My personal Neo goal is just to have fun and build relationships with people perfectly weird like I am. But I'm going to let you in on a secret... this is just part of my MUCH bigger goal.
For example, one of my goals in life, is to deliver PEOPLE the things that they NEED while giving them the things that they want ... like this post.
Final thought: Life and neo are both full of people who are probably better than both you AND me at certain things. Don't let that keep you from achieving EPIC shit. At the end of the day, an account with a single trophy that demonstrates the time, effort, and triumph of an individual, is worth more than the account with 100+ trophies never worked for.
Your shit IS epic, I know it because YOU did it, and no one else can say that.
Epic - heroic or grand in scale or character.
Originally Posted by LeafeonQueen
I love you.
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