I believe that the simple phrase of hard work pays off can bring you far in life if you have a positive attitude and the mentality of knowing you can be better than what you are now. At a young age I learned that if I want to amount to something in my life I need to apply myself and work hard to earn the things I want. Playing baseball from a young age up until Freshman year taught me that if I ever wanted to be good at the sport, that I would need to work harder and want it more than anyone else around me. As a kid I was always told to never give up and give it your all no matter if it is in school work, sports, or anything in general. Taking those important lessons away from my childhood has allowed me take different perspectives on life and proving that anything is possible. And now to this day I value these important life lessons because they will bring me to my hopes and dreams. I personally think that setting realistic goals for yourself is important because it gives you something to work towards because it provides you with motivation and a reason to do something. Back in 6th grade I set a goal that I wanted to buy a laptop with no financial help from anyone else. I was determined to achieve my goal, so I took matters into my own hands and I started a little business where I would sell duct tape wallets where I made around 600-700 dollars. I have applied the idea of hard work and determination to my mentality at work as well, I have been working at my first job at Mountain Mike’s for nearly 2 years. When I bought my first car I had saved up a good amount of money from working and bought it in all cash without any help. Buying a car by myself felt really responsible and showed me that if I worked hard enough for the car that I wanted, that it was possible for me to buy it. Plus, it was really satisfying knowing that I am growing up by making my first somewhat big purchase of my life. I would rather put my blood, sweat and tears into something, rather than have it handed to me because it is more rewarding to work hard for something that was set as a goal for you to reach. I believe if I don’t work hard and apply myself in the future I will not be where I want and achieve what I want. Whenever I would complain about a video game being too hard, my mom would tell me that “the game isn’t supposed to be easy to beat in 1 day”. Now looking back on that experience I know that it’s just video games and not very relevant, but I think it was important for me to learn because it showed me how to work to an end goal. After all, the 7 wonders of the world were not built in one day, greatness takes time.