Never Settle For Less

Have you ever sat down and pondered what the word dedication really means?  Have you really?  According to dictionary.com dedicated is defined as

• “The act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action“

Now here’s 2 even better questions.

• What happened to the dedication in society?
• When did it become “weird” to have purpose and dedication?

Follow me as I explain the story behind this posting.

About 3 months ago a co-worker and I were hanging out in his cubicle.  It was a very slow and dry work day.  Our conversation was interrupted by someone else from another work group.  Apparently, she was new and going around to meet those she didn’t know.  She was a very nice woman and made herself at home.  She appeared to be around 45 years old and spoke like an extremely smart person.  Out of nowhere she began to explain her expertise in Microsoft Access and Exel.  I’m an engineer by education but I wasn’t prepared for a Microsoft lecture by any stretch.

The more the spoke the more boring the conversation became.  She was genuinely interested in the topic and had an ear to ear smile glued to her face.  Just as I began to doze off she looked over at me and asks “Do you work out?”.  I was immediately shocked by to life.

“Sure.  Why do you ask?” I questioned her.

“I was just taking notice.  You look very good!” she said with a warm smile on her face.

“Oh thanks I’ve worked really hard.  I’ve come all the way down from 252 lbs.  I’m 205 now” I said.  I could tell  she was extremely intrigued by my body transformation.

Earlier during her Microsoft Access/Exel lecture I had cracked my fair share of jokes to keep things light hearted.   The expression on her face changed from a warm smile to a thinking scowl. It became obvious that she thought I was joking about that too.  Finally, a light bulb went off in her head and a big smile came to her face.

“NO YOU DIDN’T.  When somebody loses all that weight they don’t fill out the way you did!” she smiled and said, “you’re lying.  This is another one of your jokes”.  She motioned with her hands near my chest and arms when she said “fill out”
I smiled at her and said, “You do fill out like this when you do everything the right way”.

A tinge of jealousy must have struck my co-worker because before I could even finish talking he sarcastically blurted out “Yeah thats great and all, but you’ve been working out 5 days a week for going on 2 years!”

I stood dumbfounded for a second.  I’d never felt such intense and unnecessary hatred before.  Most people celebrate my achievement and even ask for advice.  I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to cause an uproar at work.  My mind had some very colorful thoughts and words running through it that I couldn’t share in the corporate environment.  Here’s the PG version of what I was thinking

“Everyone isn’t a lazy bum like you. SOME OF US realize that in order to take it to the next level you have to sacrifice and maybe even sweat a little bit.  Imagine that!”

I calmly strolled off because I wouldn’t have been able to hold a decent conversation had I remained there.  One central theme was buzzing around in my head.  Why do people expect to get something for nothing?????

It’s amazing to me that otherwise intelligent individuals have duped themselves into thinking the world will be gift wrapped.  It’s a shame that the words easy, instant, overnight, free, hands off, miracle, and no effort are all linked to achievement these days.  It’s sad that a relatively small amount of people in our new society know the values of work and effort.  Nothing of any value comes easy or overnight.  I hope that some of these smart people will eventually wake up and realize that the rewards you get are a product of your effort.

The idea that you can do nothing and gain everything needs to die a slow and painful death.  The world would be a better place for you and I if it did.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Training, Motivation, Personal Development, Dedication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.