Put in the work

Many Christmases ago, back when I was in elementary school, I wanted a small Lego set that consisted of a deep diving contraption with a magnet connected to one of its plastic arms. Like any impressionable kid, I was completely bought over by the commercials displaying the completed piece picking up treasure with its tiny magnet. I was always a sucker for machinery back then, playing with toy cars and remote control trucks. Now, I couldn’t care less about the automobile I drive or would someday like to purchase.

My parents were always accurate with what presents to get for Christmas, even giving Santa credit for some of the more desired toys and electronics that my siblings and I wished for. And that year, they delivered as usual. I remember opening the Lego set without that much excitement (I already unboxed several console games for the Nintendo 64). And as I took the set to the table under the light, I felt slightly overwhelmed and deceived by the pile of individual pieces which required me to assemble together in order to create the model as advertised. So, like an ungrateful child, I complained; a moment for which I excuse myself today solely due to my immaturity. My father, mistaking my outcry as signs of laziness (which I cannot doubt probably held some truth) scolded me for being so fickle and threatened to return the set. “If you’re not going to put the work into making it,” he said, “then I guess you didn’t really want it in the first place.”

If you really want something, you have to put in the work to get it.

I learned a valuable lesson that day, and I am thankful that my dad had to yell at me on Christmas morning to teach it. If you really want something, you have to put in the work to get it. It applies to everything, especially writing. Each blog post I write will be an indicator, a small step, towards my goal of becoming a successful writer. The steps I take are the whole purpose of my endeavors. Because really, it is the writing itself—the stacking of Legos—where the amusement and satisfaction comes from.

And who knows, maybe, just maybe, one day my writing will be able to pull in some treasure.