I am sure you’ve heard of the phrase “do something today that your future self will thank you for”. It’s a phrase that has unlimited applications for your life. Be it those last couple hours spent working, studying, reading, researching or questioning the lecturer, those are all things that will benefit you in the future. Once you start studying towards a degree or diploma you’ll be surrounded by hundreds of other people who were smart enough to be where you are too.

There is no difference between you and them in the eyes of your lecturers; the only way you can rise above most is if you work harder than most. Now when you are working hard you will come across some pain. But you have to go through some pain to attain the thing that is truly worth attaining. That rare and elusive thing. That success and there is only one road there. The only place where “success” is preceded by “work” is in the dictionary.

To reach that top spot you will have to go through the pain that is associated with hard work. See the thing about pain is that it is temporary, it’ll pass but the sting that lasts is the disappointment of not succeeding because you were too lazy or too scared to give it your all. Some of us give up too easily and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t guilty of that too. As soon as you reach a problem that is difficult, or you get tired you quit and rationalize why quitting was the best move. We will tell ourselves things like “it’s too late”, “I’ve done enough to pass”, “I’m not good at this” and “no one else has to do this”.

We use statements like this to set boundaries for ourselves because it’s human nature to back away from any pain or discomfort. We’ll want to quit so bad that we may even want to cry for it, but why not just keep going? You’re already feeling the pain, why not just keep going and then cry at the end? Not because of the pain but because you persevered and instead cry tears of joy. The worst thing is not the pain or struggle that is part of the process of reaching for your goal. The worst thing is quitting and having to live with because quitting will stay with you forever.

You don’t want to think in retrospect saying to yourself if only I did this or if only I did that. One thing I realized is that there will come a point where you’ll want to quit, that is inevitable but the person who takes the extra steps to go ask the lecturer questions, read more than what is prescribed, study later than what is normal is the one who achieves more than what is average. That is the person who is thinking of their future self, that persons future self will give their past self a high five. Now are you willing to be able to sacrifice what you are for what you will become? I am, because I want to be able to give my past self a high five for enduring and working hard. No

T.V. No Sleep