Ordinary to Extraordinary

How did Michael Jackson become Michael Jackson? 

Was Michelangelo born with a hammer and chisel in his hand?

Did Leonard Bernstein pop out at his birth and play a few Beethoven pieces before his first burp?

I admit, some of these scenarios are a bit absurd.  And they are done to make a point. 

We love Carol Dweck's book Mindset.  Again this week we focus on one of Carol’s quotes.

“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes that were born different from us.  We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.”

~Carol Dweck

Carol just said two mouthfuls.  Did you catch her last phrase? 

“… who made themselves extraordinary.”

~Did you know Michael Jordan was cut from this high school basketball team?

~Albert Einstein was considered illiterate.

~I recently read about a man who wanted to be an attorney.  He studied for the bar exam, took the test – and failed.

He took it again – and failed.

He took it again – and failed.

This want-to-be attorney took the test forty-eight times and finally passed it. 

Today he is a successful attorney.

~J.K. Rowling showed her first Harry Potter book to twelve publishers.  She is now worth over $15 billion dollars.  She hasn’t always been J.K. ROWLING.

In spite of the fact that overnight success is something most of us will never experience, we can help our children discover how being extraordinary comes by practicing perseverance and diligence in the task at hand. 

I love this thought:

Some winners just take longer to develop.

  

Carolyn Biggs

Steps and Skips

Tips for the Developing Student