You Can’t Do It Alone

My success is not just my own. My success comes from the teachers who inspired me, the friends who encouraged me, the family who believed in me, the professors who pushed me to be better, and the lessons that life threw my way. 

When I was in school, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best that I could be, which meant late nights and early mornings, and sometimes no sleep at all. During my last semester of high school, I took 24 hours of college credits, which is essentially like cramming two semesters of college classes into one semester at the same time I was taking my regular high school classes. I did this because I had decided that I wanted to earn my associate’s degree by the time I graduated from high school. The problem was that an associate’ s degree typically takes two years to complete. Although I started taking dual credit and regular college classes during my junior year, I was not initially planning on pursuing the full degree, so I only signed up for one or two classes at a time.

Looking back, I sometimes wonder how it was possible that I survived that semester. I was also involved in other activities, like figure skating, working for the college newspaper, tutoring younger students, volunteering, and more. I was barely sleeping, but I was determined. That is largely because of the support and encouragement from my parents. They never made me do any of those things, but they were there to cheer me on and motivate me when I needed it. They took turns staying up with me on those late nights of studying and working on assignments. They comforted me when I felt discouraged and reminded me of what I was working towards. They helped me maintain the “why” of all of my efforts, and they became my biggest cheerleaders when I made it to the end.

I may have done the work for myself, but it was because of my support system that I followed through with my goals. A piece of my success belongs to every single person who helped me and guided me along the way. Behind every great leader is someone who believed in them and encouraged them in their journey. And when you step into a leadership role, you become that encouragement at work for the people that look to you for direction. Remember what it was like to have someone to look up to, and strive to give your best for the people who now follow you. As we like to say at Jody Holland Training & Speaking… Become the leader that you would follow.

-Meghan Slaughter