Learn to play the cards of life

By: Evan Schaub – Senior, Communication

Opportunity can take many forms.

Sometimes it comes from friends and family, other times from sheer luck , but the best way I’ve found to grow and gain new opportunities is actually pretty simple: Be a good person, find something you enjoy doing in life and do it as well as you can.

Being a good person is not outdated. It never will be. The media often likes to paint the picture that you have to be heartless and manipulative to succeed in business and in life, but that’s just not true.

Having the values of respect and perseverance will provide you with more opportunities than spite and malice ever will.

Ever hear of karma?

Take business, for example. It’s an undeniable fact that having strong profit margins is essential to running a successful business, but a lot of things have to happen to achieve those desired margins.

It requires ruthless work, long hours and most importantly, collaboration with others.

The golden rule may seem cliché at times, but if you’re a person who doesn’t have respect for the work of others then no one will have respect for you and the work that you put your name on.

Everybody has something to bring to the table, something to teach us.

Sometimes those lessons are easy to learn and sometimes those lessons are brutal and difficult, but make no mistake, every person you meet in life can teach you something you didn’t know before.

Advice from a poor man can be just as valuable as advice from a rich man if you know how to use it correctly.

In addition to that, it’s healthy and beneficial to surround yourself with people who positively motivate you. People who inspire you to be a better person everyday are the ones we should admire.

I’m of the belief that most humans are a reflection of the five people they consider themselves closest to. When you’re spending a lot of time around someone, you start to adopt some of their mannerisms and characteristics without even knowing it.

If all of your friends are successful, hardworking individuals, then you are more likely to be a successful hardworking individual yourself.

People reap what they sow. Life by nature can be cruel and unfair at times.

Some people are born into vast riches while others are born into abject poverty, but the important thing isn’t the hand that you’re dealt in life.

It’s learning how to play the cards.