Preface

One day when I was in the eleventh grade, my English teacher gave our class an assignment to write a one-page paper.  We split into small groups and received feedback on our paper from other members of the group. 

One of the top students in the class reviewed my paper.  She said, “You have short choppy sentences, like a second grader.”

I was a C minus student in high school.  I had no dream, no desire, and no ability to go to college.  After high school, I enlisted in the US Air Force.

After my four years in the Air Force, I returned home to a blue-collar job.  Eight years later, I was laid off from the blue-collar job.  After a lot of agonizing thought and, frankly, because I didn’t know what else to do, I started college at age thirty.

My sophomore year I received an A on an English paper.  It was the only A given to 110 students.  On my paper, the professor wrote this:  “You have short concise sentences, like Ernest Hemingway.”

I did not share this story to convince you I write like Hemingway, nor am I implying Hemingway wrote like a second grader.  Rather, I share this story to show that things aren’t always as they seem.  Maybe, just maybe, you have strengths you never knew you had.

When you live in the present, you discover your true self.  When you discover, embrace, and nurture your true self, your hidden strengths are revealed to you.  When you hone your strengths to help others, you are living your life purpose. 

 

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