I’m just vibing off what Lori wrote in the last post. Before I came down to UCLA they made us read this book about this doctor who worked in Haiti setting up a clinic for the people living there. He started going down to Haiti when he was 23, between classes and med school, and just spending his free time doing whatever he could to help each of his patients individually, even if it meant that he had to walk hours just to get to them.

Anyway, this one man started his own organization, just to help him fundraise for this one community in Haiti, and over time, his ideas and commitment caught on, and his organization grew and expanded and he started doing the same things in Peru and Russia. Eventually he was running national programs in these countries, and making a huge difference in treating Tuberculosis for tens of thousands of people. What started as one man helping one community quickly became a worldwide organization, all because of one mans drive.

One of the things that surprised me about this book, was that despite this mans accomplishments, i didn’t like him. He worked harder than was healthy, took the burden of the world’s sick upon himself, sometimes he acted like a huge jerk to his close friends, and he was almost constantly absent as a husband and father. Anyway, the point I’m making is not that this guy was a jerk, but that he was human, that he had faults and flaws just like anyone else. He wasn’t a saint, but he was still able to effect thousands of lives for the better. Anyway, that’s what I had to say about Lori had to say, this is the second time Lori’s blog has inspired one of my blogs, so I guess you could say she’s my muse, in a non-creepy way. Sorry if this totally misses the mark Lori.

-Ben

Have you ever wanted something so much that you work and work at it but for some reason it never seems to be getting any closer.  Have you ever wanted something so much that every time you get even a little closer, you counteract that by telling yourself that it isn’t good enough.  Competativeness could be the key to our success.  Once you find something you are good at, it is only human nature that you want to be even better at it.  Then once you see that somebody else is good at that same thing, most, if not all of us want to be even better.  This is called competativeness, mind the spelling.  Some people may say that certaim people are tallented at what they do, and yes that is true, to a certain extent.  Sports for example are highly competative, that is why people get better and better at it.  It is because they constantly push themselves beyond their limit just to prove to THEMSELVES that they can do better, whether it is better than another person, or just better in general.  I know from experience that dance is also highly competative.  Girls in general will push themselves just to prove that they can be equal or possibly better than “that other girl in class”.  I have been a victim of this insanity myself.  As we do exersises across the floor, we watch eachother.  Once it’s my time to go, it’s only a dancer’s nature to want to prove yourself “worthy” of being watched.  It’s not a bad thing to be competative.  It improves your skills.  It pushes you beyond your limit.  And in an audition, or in a large race, or a large game, where there are hundreds of others just like you at the same skill level as you, you need to stand out in order to be noticed and remembered.  I know this may seem a little selfish to want to be the best at what you are good at, but if you think about it that is where the successful people are.  The successful people are not the ones that sat back relaxing, or hid in the crowd, or didn’t care as to where they are going in life.  The successful people are the ones that saw the other guy (or gal) and said, ‘you know what, I can be just as good, if not better than them’.  The successful people are the ones that jumped forward and got themselves noticed.  You have to stand out and prove yourself in a job interview.  That is how you get the job.  You can’t just walk in their looking scruffy and not care about what they think of you.  You have to prove yourself and succeed.  In dance class you can see it eachother.  Most people say that the dance world is just for fun.  People do it because they like it.  Yes that is the case, but what most people don’t know is that it is highly competative.  I can see it in my friends.  People will often join groups of the so-called talented people and challenge those people by jumping higher or farther when moving across the floor.  The only way to improve in something is to first like what you are doing because in reality to are not going to go very far if you are not interesed in what you are doing.  Second challenge yourself and work hard.  And (yes I know you can’t start a sentece with ‘and’) second find the people that challenge you and your strengths and see if you can top that.  See if you can challenge not only those people, but yourself. 

Take care,

Leens

(aka Colleen)