CHS Graduation Speech: Given on 5/20/07
I once heard a story told by a famous newspaper editorialist. He related a conversation he had with his dentist on the anniversary of his second decade on the job. The dentist said he daily dreaded going to work. He hated his job. A comment he made has stuck with me ever since: “I don’t know why I have to suffer every day of my life because of a decision a stupid 17 year-old made.”
This comment was not said because he decided to be a dentist. It was made because he chose a career that was a bad fit for him. It likely did not match his interests and talents. It was probably chosen for the wrong reasons.
I decided when I heard that story 31 years ago that I would not have to make that statement when I grew up. Therefore, I did something about it. I sought to find what I loved to do and made it my life’s work. If I lived out my passion, I reasoned, I would take pleasure in what I did every day.
A few weeks ago, Bill Callahan, the Husker head football coach spoke in Columbus. He said something similar about coaching. He said he has coached for 30 years and has not worked a day in his life. That can be said even though he puts in at least 70 hours a week on the job! He loves coaching so much it is not work for him. That is the way to spend your life.
Find out what you love to do in life, and make a career out of it. If your passion and your work are one in the same, as Coach Callahan said, you will never have to work a day in your life.
When you think of setting your life’s course some ideas will help:
- First you must understand that each of you has a specific purpose for which you were born. It is essential to discover this purpose and fulfill it.
- Living for you does not bring satisfaction. True satisfaction comes from living for others and knowing you are accomplishing something to make their lives better. Selfishness never satisfies. It promises happiness but actually leaves you empty. A life lived selfishly is not a life worth living.
- Each person can make the world a better place. The writer Zig Ziglar made an important observation in a book called See You at the Top. Ziglar noted that the most profound accomplishments in our country have been done by people that have very average abilities. How did they make these accomplishments? They did it by utilizing their abilities to their fullest. They also did it through believing in themselves and setting out with determination to accomplish their goals.
- Shortcuts to success are non-existent. If we want our lives to make a difference, we cannot wait for good fortune to bring the good results we want. Success comes to those who strive for it and are willing to do what it takes to make it happen. Good things do not come about through wishful thinking. They come about through dedication and hard work.
- Related to this, good things happen to people when they set a personal plan to make them happen. Living aimlessly rarely leads to making a contribution and finding fulfillment in life. Determining a goal and setting a course of action to reach it are essentials to accomplishing great things.
- Finally, the earlier a person sets goals and begins to carry them out the better off you are. Many people put off setting direction until it is too late. By that time, they have so many responsibilities they may no longer have the freedom to change direction and do what they were meant to do.
If you remember nothing else from this talk, remember what the unhappy dentist said in the beginning. Do not end up as an aging adult who regrets the decisions that were made at 17 or 18. Figure out what you enjoy doing and make it your life’s work. Pursue it with determination, confidence and enthusiasm. Then you will make a great difference in this world. That is what you were placed here to do.
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