“It took a lot of hard work to be this blessed.”
Nana and Papa a few years ago with their grandkids on “the farm!”
My dad, Michael Walz, told me a story the other day and one thing, in particular, he said really stuck with me:
"It took a lot of hard work to be this blessed."
It is so true. For those of you who know my dad, you know that he is probably one of the hardest working people you'll ever meet - and very successful. So here's the story.
My parents' have a residential property in Mequon, a beautiful 5-acre lot with a pond and a huge barn. They built a gorgeous, ranch-style home with a walk-out basement. This is my parents' "dream" property. They meticulously maintain the grass, trees, pond, house, etc - all themselves. They both grew up in large farming families in the Fargo, ND area. Their families didn't have a lot of money, and they certainly didn't pay people to take care of things they could do themselves. Now that my parents can afford this luxury, they still don't. They take a lot of pride in maintaining what they've worked extremely hard to build.
So one day, a friend of theirs comes out to the property to visit. They said "Wow. This is a really beautiful property. You are so blessed."
That's when my dad replied, "Well, it took a lot of hard work to be this blessed."
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One of the most important things to me in life is to take the knowledge, values, intelligence, morals, ethics, etc - in short, the advantages - my dad worked hard to create for me and make something big out of it. I'm partially there, but I have a ways to go.
I've shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to grow my businesses. I've spent countless hours reading books written by people smarter than me, and surrounding myself with successful individuals, to absorb as much knowledge as possible.
I was handed a lot of advantages. My dad had some, but certainly WAY less. My kids will have more than both of us.
We are most certainly blessed. We are faithful people, and I know God is watching out for us. But let's not confuse hard work with blessings or luck.
Remember that we create our own success. Now go out there, work smart and work hard, and make it happen!