What Is Your Work Like?

-Work is an essential component of a meaningful life.

Everything comes with the work. Somebody asked me not too long ago what I wanted my legacy to be, and outside of my daughter, whose middle name is legacy because she is the heir to the Rutues throne, I replied I wanted my legacy to reflect hard work. And what that means is that when people discuss Deondre’ Rutues, I want them to remark that man did the work. I want them to say that that man did the work, and he got everything that came with it. Period!

Everything comes with the work is my mantra because, in this life, you will have the successes that you desire and dream of, but only through action. You can sit and plan all day, read all day, take classes all day, but if you never execute, it is all for naught. You must do A LOT of work! You must sit with yourself (be introspective) and focus on the areas that require strengthening. You must take the time out and set some goals for yourself. You must decide what the ultimate objective in life for you will be and make the vision plain. You are the creator, architect, and master of your life’s story and the curator of what you ultimately want to be, what you want to see, and what you will have. What indelible mark do you want to leave on your children? Your family? The world? In this life, NOTHING comes without hard work because that is what is essential for you to get everywhere you want to go. You have seen all the movies. You have heard the interviews of the famous people that inspire you. You have read the books of the countless motivators time and time again, and they all say the same thing: that the road in life is full of nothing but work (there is time for play, after the work, of course), and you cannot escape that fact. So that means YOU must do what is necessary to get what YOU desire. I recognize that we live in a time where a lot of people are overworked and underpaid. If that is you, that means it is time for you to go WORK on some skills. If you do not want to be in a position where you get paid less than your worth, then go out and build some skills using your hands because you will create an opportunity to get paid well. There is much debate these days concerning trade schools versus colleges (there is an extremely short supply of tradesmen, by the way), and you must decide what kind of work you want to take on. Whatever direction you choose to go, remember you will not escape having to work. You must put your best foot forward every day and work hard, painstakingly hard, to get whatever it is that you want in life. And then, when you get what you want, you cannot stop working. That is the trick. You work hard your whole life to acquire the things you have always desired, only to find out that there is more work at the end of the tunnel. You must live and breathe the work. DO. THE. WORK! Sit with yourself, get your goals in order, find purpose in defining a primary objective for your life, and go after what you want! But remember, the only reward you get for working hard is more hard work. But everything comes with the work.

- Here are some strategies to keep you working hard

• Stay focused on the result, plan to be victorious
• Celebrate along the way (every win is a win, no matter how small)
• Take a break, then get back to work
• Find a group of like-minded individuals to be your support group and accountability partners.

Thank you for reading and working hard.