If I had the chance to have a conversation with my 14 to 16 year old self I’d kick my butt. I had to be one of the most frustrating kids ever and if I could apologize to my high school teachers back at Gage Park I would. I leaned greatly on my natural ability to achieve just enough to get by in school while other kids struggled so much just to achieve what I didn’t even have to try hard to accomplish. I didn’t have to study very hard most of the time and I did OK. Not great just OK. I didn’t have much going on as far as a social life and my grandmother taught us not to be idle in the summer so, I went to summer school every year of high school. This allowed me to graduate from HS a year early. The feat wasn’t anything really special. I mainly went to summer school because classes like Chemistry were much easier to pass in summer school. It wasn’t something I needed to stretch to achieve.
I tell this story because this is the reason I ended being shown how to mop a floor. When you live off just your ability and not the desire to strive for something great the ultimate result will be something much less than what you hoped. This is now my fear and driver in everything that I do. I don’t want to look up in life again and having some guy in a short sleeve shirt showing me how to mop a floor because I didn’t apply myself.
People look at my life today and see that I have a lot going on and that I don’t seem satisfied with my accomplishments. That’s because I’m not. I can do so much more. I can help more people achieve their dreams, I can bring more people to Christ, I can push myself to be a great example to my own children if I just apply myself. When this life is done, I don’t want people to say I was effective, I want them to say “He left it all out there!”
Growing up in Chicago 
I have known Keith for close to 20 years which probably aligns closely with the lesson in mopping. I’m not sure exactly when this lesson in humility occurred but I will say that I recognized Keith even as a young man as someone who wold go on to accomplish great things. I think an important distinction that can be made between those who achieve and those who don’t is some are willing to “humble” themselves out of necessity while knowing that the future holds greater things.
Thanks for the kind words Dave. Yeah it was maybe a year before I met you. I still need(ed) to learn some hard lessons before it truly clicked. I’m glad I had people like you to give me both advice and a chance to show what I was capable of doing. I’ll always be eternally grateful.