“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”.
Thomas Edison

I shared with my kids a big “secret” the other night during family night:

“Learning is WORK”.

Somehow along the way, it appears my kids got the impression that if something was hard, or challenging, or took a long time to do,  or required constant review, repetition, clarification, or discipline that it was “too hard” and that it must not be possible. Clearly, something must be wrong.

So, I had to bring them back to reality.

If you find something hard, or challenging, or it takes a long time, you likely need to put in some work. Besides, it’s probably good for you!

You can’t just read something once, and expect to always understand. Or review it one time and expect to have it memorized. Or hear your teacher talk and never have to think about it again and it will magically jump in your head when you need it.

Even if you believe in the power of prayer to help you out, you can’t get away without: WORK.

You have to WORK at things.

And work, for them right now, is “studying”.

And work applies to many things: we have to work at school, work at our relationships, work at our careers, work at our hobbies, work at increasing our faith and testimonies, work at maintaining our house, work, work, work.

When you work, you will be prepared to encounter the opportunities as they present themselves. The more you work, the more opportunities you will have. Sadly though, the less you work, the more you close doors on opportunities.

Of course, I do realize that sometimes all the work in the world will not produce the results you want. And I know that sometimes kids will work super hard at school, and still have challenges. But, the point is, you deal with those challenges, after the work has been put in. There is no excuse for not putting in the work upfront.