I will be appreciating all the steemit anniversary wishes from everyone.
Last year on my anniversary, I released an article called '25 Lessons' which ended up going viral.
This year, I wanted to tell a story to my blog post followers.
When I was 16 years old, I had to prepare to take the SATs.
Your boy was nervous.
'Why?'
Because I was a very bad test taker. And apparently, this exam was going to play a big role in my future.
The next few months, I grinded away.
Studied day in and day out.
Got a few of those SAT books and did all the practice problems.
Even enrolled in a SAT class.
As the months quickly faded, the big moment had finally arrived.
The test day was here.
A part of me was confident considering how much preparation I had done.
The other part of me was unsure, not knowing what to expect....
The minute that the exam started, i noticed something.
'What was that?'
I knew it was going to be a LONG ride.
The questions looked WAY harder than what I expected.
After leaving the exam, I no longer felt confident.
It completely caught me off guard.
When we got our scores back, my results reflected my worries.
I bombed the exam.
The next day, everyone in my IB program was talking about how well they did.
When I told them what I got...everyone laughed.
I got the lowest SAT score in my entire class.
And it wasn't even close.
They all scored a minimum of 250 points higher than me.
No clue what happened.
I gave it my all.
But I came up short.
It was back to the drawing board. Time to study again & hopefully salvage this travesty.
Another few months passes by & this time I'm ready for round 2.
I open the exam & feel much more confident.
But we just need to wait and see what happens.
When I got the exam score back in the next few weeks, once again...
I scored the lowest in my class.
During that time, I didn't know why it was playing out like this.
No clue why i worked so hard & these other people were scoring higher.
These kids from my class were actually bragging how they didn't 'study at all.'
So what gives?
My entire life, i thought people with work ethic got ahead.
So why wasn't this the case with me?
'Did you ever find out why?'
Yea.
'And why was that?'
Because work ethic is shown during moments of uncertainty.
It's been over a decade since i took the SAT exam.
And what's funny is that a lot of the people who just 'winged the exam,' have little to show for it in their present day.
Majoring in majors they hate.
Scraping by mediocrity.
Bitching on twitter about things they can't control.
etc.
They never learned work ethic.
They took the small things for granted.
As a decade has passed, I'd like to tell my 16 year old self something.
'Which is?'
That being a poor test taker would be the best thing that would ever happen to you.'
'Huh???'
Let me explain.
Doing so bad in those exams forced me to work harder.
The first time when I bombed the SATs, i decided to keep on pushing.
It was work ethic through uncertainty.
The second time I bombed the SATs, once again, i kept on pushing.
It was work ethic through uncertainty.
The thing about work ethic through uncertainty is that it makes very minimal sense in your present moment.
But it makes all the sense in the world in the future.
Failing those exams made me work harder. But more importantly, it allowed me to have a high threshold towards dealing with chaos.
I was never given anything in the communication skills world.
Everything was learned through putting myself out there & hoping that i figure it out.
Everything was earned.
Those cats that were passing their exams with 0 work, can thrive in a structured school setting.
But they are soft in the real world.
They aren't remotely scrappy & throw in the towel when things get tough.
As 2 rises, i know the world is very chaotic.
Random shit happens all the time.
Humans are unpredictable. One minute they are your friend. The next moment they are a snake.
But one thing that you can always rely on is being disciplined & letting the cards fall how they may.
I said in the beginning of this year that I will establish the foundations of Universal Hustle Affiliato.
I have done that.
But 2020, i'm here to dominate.
The goal is to make UHA the #1 Global crypto earning brand.
When the dust settles, only time will tell who was putting in work & who was just talking.
So we have yet to see.
I appreciate all of yall & the wishes.
But the best is yet to come.
Till tomorrow
Trilston 💲
