A brilliant and respected man named John Wooden once said, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are and your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Sometimes it is a blessing to hear what other people think of you. However, the opinions of others really doesn’t matter. Trully what is important is how God sees you, and how you see yourself.

I can thank my mom for her positive influence on me in many ways. Daily, Debby preaches the importance of working hard and doing the best I can do. Working around the clock, my mom always is energetic and has good spirits. Even if she’s beyond exhausted, she makes it clear that I need to do keep on until the jobs done. Another big point that my mom pushes, is to always do the right thing. It doesn’t matter what the position I am in, but what matters is right from wrong. Alot of the time, I get home late and I still have to start all my homework, but I am pretty tired from the active day. Not in the mood to do homework, I still work and get what’s needed to be done, done.

A saying that I’ve grown up with my whole life is “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is your better, and your better is your best.” This has become one of my strongest beliefs that I try to apply in all that I do. The way I see things, if I’m going to do something, I might as well put my best foot forward and really try doing it. I’m either going to be proud with my work, or later regret not doing my best. On a day to day basis, I’m put to a trial with this no matter what it is. Such as in sports, I’ve come to the realization that it really doesn’t matter if I win or not, but what matters is if I tried my hardest.

My greatest strength that I have would have to be my desire to help and please others. Constantly, I find myself wanting to make others happy. Whether it is helping someone with a big project, or just some simple advice. I believe I’m like this because of how I was raised and encouraged to be. But I have reached a certain point in life where I am done being taught, and I have the option to do what I want. Ironically, even after this time in my life, I still want to help people and am happy to do so. So having said this, I’ve realized that is the person who I truly am, as opposed to the person I’ve been told to be. Although this is my biggest strength, it is also one of my biggest weaknesses. To explain, since I want to please others, I care too much about what they think of me.

The expectations that I have for myself outweighs what others expect of me. This is because I sincerely want to do what is right. What I mean by this, is I want to have a positive effect on those around me. For me personally, this means to always encourage, inspire, and love the people around me. I believe that I should live with a purpose, and make my life worth living.