success
The road to success is always under construction; share your equations for success — and learn some new ones.
The small black notebook
The small black book fell on the floor and disappeared. I couldn’t find it. I looked everywhere - under that ridiculous plush couch that converts into impossible-to-sleep-on bed. I looked under a desk that my son covered with a blue masking tape (long story). I looked under a rebounder (our neighbor downstairs has patience of a saint). “Well…” I exhaled, “it seems to be gone. But where on Earth did it go?”
By Anastasia Fazal6 years ago in Motivation
The LBB
The LBB By Tim Gesner Needra was a writer. Yes, she was a lot of things, but she thought of herself as a writer more than anything. When Needra was young her mother read to her the most amazing stories. Needra loved it when her mother read to her. She loved the pictures, she loved the voices her mother made when she read. But the words! Words were mysterious. They were magical. Needra tried making up her own words by carefully copying some letters onto a scrap of paper and taking them to her mother to read them to her. “What’s this word, Momma?” “Oh. I don’t know…” Her mother said, a smile playing on her lips. “Let’s see if I can pronounce this. Hmmm, I think it says ‘Needra’. What’s it supposed to be?” “It’s my name Momma!” Needra almost shouted. “Oh, I see it now! You spelled ‘Needra’. You spelled it very nicely too.” And even though Needra’s name was actually Leeandra, Needra was the only name she would answer to from that point on. That week, her father came home a little later than usual and he presented Needra with a book for her to write in! “Now not every book is made to write in, Needra,” her father had said very solemnly, but still smiling gently, “but this one is.” They showed her how each page of the book had a letter of the alphabet on it. Needra knew the alphabet song but didn’t know what each letter looked like. Momma showed her how, if she sang the song, it would show her what each letter was as she turned the pages. There were also dotted lines, where if you connected the dots, you could make your own letters! Daddy said her letters were very nice when she copied the word “FROG” out of the book. Needra often saw her mother writing in a little book. It looked old, and shiny, a deep dark brown. “Are you writing your alphabet too?” asked Needra. “No Baby, I’m just writing. This is my writing book. It’s kind of like yours, but there’s no pictures and I already know how to make all the letters into words. Momma writes down important things that have happened, things she is thinking about, even little stories sometimes.” “Stories?!” Needra’s whole world turns upside down for a moment. “YOU can write stories?” “Of course I can Baby, anyone can, and that means YOU too!” Momma poked Needra softly right over her heart. Little Needra didn’t realize it at the time, but from that moment on she was a writer.
By Timothy Gesner6 years ago in Motivation
No Need For Greed
Lexi woke up with a start and glanced at the clock. How could it be morning already? She heard her older son laughing in his room so that was a good sign, at least he was already up. Some mornings it was a real job to get him out of bed. She took a moment to see if she could hear her other son and sure enough the delightful theme song of his favorite phone game came wafting out of his room. She took a quick moment to check her emails and messages and seeing nothing of real importance, shook the sleep away as best as she could and headed to the bathroom.
By Jenny Beiersdorf6 years ago in Motivation
Taking a Leap of Faith
My alarm clocked roared at 6:00 in the morning like it did every day, I quickly turned it off and put my feet on the floor. As I was getting ready for my day I received a reminder on my phone saying, ‘Annual Review Due Tomorrow.’ I quickly tossed my phone on the counter and became anxious. I had been working at this job for nearly a year and had been dreading this moment for months. Every time I would go to write my review I would delete the words that I had carefully chosen knowing fully they were lies. Every day I’d force myself to walk into the building and begin my day with a smile.
By Makenzie Serafini6 years ago in Motivation
Unexpected
“Lexi, get over here now and deliver these plates! While they’re still hot!” Al shouted from the window of the kitchen. Lexi finished taking her last order quickly, smiled at the customers, and headed to the kitchen window. She clipped the order up and took the plates, added in all the extras and made her way to deliver the food. She didn’t snap at Al, and she smiled sweetly at everyone. She was the only waitress and she was moving as fast as her legs would carry her around the 50-seat diner. It seemed the diner was always packed, probably because of its location, but it was very much understaffed. This was not on Lexi or Al, but rather on Brian, the manager.
By Dawn Lewis6 years ago in Motivation
No Need For Greed
Lexi woke up with a start and glanced at the clock. How could it be morning already? She heard her older son laughing in his room so that was a good sign, at least he was already up. Some mornings it was a real job to get him out of bed. She took a moment to see if she could hear her other son and sure enough the delightful theme song of his favorite phone game came wafting out of his room. She took a quick moment to check her emails and messages and seeing nothing of real importance, shook the sleep away as best as she could and headed to the bathroom.
By Jenny Beiersdorf6 years ago in Motivation
The Boy Who Lost Millions
Hobo. H-o-b-o. Never a nice word, at least the way I’ve heard it. People passing by me on the road muttering under their breaths. My story is famous, and no one will ever let me forget it. The worst part is, it didn’t have to be this way. One small change could alter my entire world.
By Amy Dane Falkowski6 years ago in Motivation
The Walk of Average
For Average had been walking for years, decades wondering when or if he would get there. Average did not know what “there” was. However, Everyone seemed to be “there”. Average thought to himself, Everyone is there already. It flustered him having to walk every day through the same path past the same giants, the same mountains to always end up walking back home and having to restart his path again the next morning. Average saw Everyone going through the same motions and paths he was going through. The difference was that Everyone’s path appeared to be easier, prettier than his. And he continued with the same routine every day and each day he would ask himself if that was it. He wondered if the glorious stories of knights and beautiful castles embraced in joy were ever true. He wondered if all those stories were now just that, nothing else but a story. Before he knew it, Average had grown, and more years had passed. Average was becoming more concerned. He had been collecting rocks throughout his walks. He had picked up many rocks including the rock of discontent, unwillingness, jealousy, hatred and the heaviest of all, the rock of loss of self-worth. One day, Average decided to take a different path. He had seen this path before, once even took a step towards it but decided it was too risky and went back to his usual walk. Walking slowly through the path, he realized he had walked too far in. It was now too late to walk back. “What was the way back anyways? He thought to himself, well, this at least is something new. Right?”. Nervously, he kept walking. As he kept walking, he realized that the giants in this new path were far greater and the mountains were far higher. The cliffs were far deeper. By now, his rocks became heavy. He wondered if he would ever make it. His knees trembled and he was starving. Without a sense of direction, he kept moving forward down the unknown path. That is until Average came across a stone. On this stone there was a small black book with rounded edges. The stone read, The Book of Talent. He stood across the little, small black book. Hesitant to pick it up, he walked away. Average decided to take a nap. However, he could not take his mind off the black book. Was that meant for him? Hours turned into days. Average finally decided to pick the little black book up. As he opened it, he was surprised to see empty ivory-colored pages. Average decided to take his new find, his new treasure back with him. Average decided to fill the ivory pages with his experiences. He began to record the mountains he crossed, the giants he fought and the cliffs he climbed. Average recorded the rocks he carried with him. He came to the realization that each time he recorded a rock, that recorded rock became a precious stone. Day by day a new rock was recorded until he had no more rocks and just beautiful stones. By then, Average came to the realization that he had somehow made it back home. He laid his black book flat and looked through the little black book once again, now with ivory pages embellished in ink. Doing so, Average noticed an expandable pocket towards the end of the book. In the pocket was a note that read, “The Book of Talent; Champions and Originality”. Average realized the reason Everyone’s path was “easier” was because they had found a little black book too. Average now became Original and his little black book with rounded corners became the door to the knights and beautiful castles embraced in joy.
By Mayra Martinez6 years ago in Motivation
Take Notes
I’m a little old for the game in which you choose a raindrop and watch it race the others down a window pane, but, since I forgot to charge my phone all day, I’m playing it anyway, the drops turning orange, red, then green, as the bus braves slick streets on yet another miserable evening.
By Emily Stephenson6 years ago in Motivation
