If you want a thing bad enough

If you want a thing bad enough

To go out and fight for it,

Work day and night for it,

Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it;

If only desire of it

Makes your aim strong enough

Never to tire of it,

If life seems all empty and useless without it

And all that you scheme and you dream is about it,

If gladly you’ll sweat for it,

Fret for it,

Plan for it,

Pray with all your strength for it,

If you’ll only go after the thing that you want,

With all your capacity,

Strength and sagacity,

Faith, hope, and confidence; stern pertinacity,

If neither cold or poverty, famished and gaunt,

Nor sickness, nor pain,

Of body or brain,

Can turn you away from the aim that you want,

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,

You’ll get it!

My daughter shared this poem with me this week as something that has really helped motivate her to keep going and keep working hard each day. I am not sure who wrote it, but I think it’s great! It’s a good reminder that when we really want something we have to be prepared to put in the hard work it is going to take to get it.

Anything worth having in life takes real effort to get it. And chances are it won’t be an easy path. There will be obstacles and barriers and pitfalls all along the way. But if you can stay the course and keep giving it everything you’ve got, and you don’t give up when things get tough, eventually you will find a way to succeed. And when you finally do you will appreciate it all the more because you went through those trials and conquered them!

Have an amazing day!

~Amy

3 Comments

  • Jane says:

    It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted anything this badly, but I have to say that just reading this is motivating. I wish your daughter stellar success in whatever it is she is striving for.

  • Gary Bowen says:

    I love this. Looks like it was written by Berton Braley and there are some variations what’s posted on your blog. Here’s a link I found:

    https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4255164.Berton_Braley

    Keep on blogging! Love to read you many thoughtful, inspiring posts.

  • Crawgdor says:

    My Grandpa quoted that poem to me out of the blue one day when I was a child. I only heard it the one time and it lodged in my head the way most things don’t.

    His version was slightly different, he finished saying the final line“you‘ll get it!“, and then pausing and slowly saying … oh yes, you‘ll get it. Just make sure you don’t regret it.

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