“You need not just talent to get by, but work ethic.”
Once, I told someone I was working on my Master’s degree, and they shrugged and said, “Well that’s because you’re smart and things come easy for you.”
That pissed me off so much.
While I might have an aptitude for science, I worked my tail off to get that degree. I spent nights working on experiments in the lab, studied in all my free time, and basically sacrificed a portion of my life for grad school to come out the other side as M.G. Spear, MS.
When I told someone I wrote books, they shrugged their shoulders, yawned, and said, “Okay.”
That made me so mad.
They had pushed aside all my years of learning and practicing the craft; of writing and creating awesome characters; of my time spent editing and re-writing. Not to mention getting things together for my books like covers and blurbs and marketing. This past weekend I spent around six hours on some Amazon ad and copywriting training.
Now I have 12 books under my belt, writing under M.G. Spear and M.G. Rorai.
When I told someone I created cat art, they laughed at me. That made my blood boil.
Even though this is my newest venture, I’ve taken my art and created clothing, coasters, travel mugs, stickers, magnets, notebooks, and other merchandise with my pictures. I bought some of the shirts to check the quality and was impressed. I’m still learning as I create, but I’m having fun and I hope to expand in the future.
This is one of my active shirts I got for my design, “Fly By.” It’s perfect for the summer weather coming up. You can check out my other designs and merchandise for sale here.
Work and perseverance get you places. People can be overflowing with talent, but if they don’t put in the effort, they get passed up by the hustlers.
A lot of work takes place in the background. Someone can be working on a project or life goal, and you just see them in their brief spare time relaxing and making it look easy.
Work and experience can give the illusion that things are easy.
Work your tail off. Achieve your life goal and be darn proud that you succeeded. Because a lot of people try, but not everyone succeeds. That’s the dark side of success: you don’t know how many failures came before, or how many people gave up the same pursuit. So be happy when you accomplish something, even if it is tying your shoes in the morning.