The Hardest Part

One late December day, Jaybird, my boyhood best friend, and I were sitting by the fire, talking about the year behind and the one to come. When I asked him if he’d made any resolutions, he said, “Yep … to stay alive long enough not to make any resolutions for de year after next.”

Then he said, “I been watching how you work. You got a bad habit of doin’ de easy parts of jobs first. Dat’s ’xactly opposite o’ de way you oughta do ’em. Fuh de comin’ year, I want you to do de hardest part of any job first. Remember, de best way out is always through. People who take de easy way out always end up in de same place — out.” Once again, my old black mentor had shared his great wisdom with me. He understood that when people postpone a job’s hard parts, they diminish the pleasure and sense of accomplishment that completing the task may bring, because they know the parts of the job they are reluctant to undertake still remain undone. For over a decade, that wisdom has served me well in the classroom. In dealing with college students, I strive to eliminate their weaknesses before improving their strengths. The hard way requires undertaking the most difficult task first: eliminating irresponsible, counterproductive mindsets that hinder learning.

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I have observed that many college freshmen have been misled into believing the world owes them whatever they need or want. How wrong! The world was here first — it owes them nothing; they owe the world. A disturbing number of them believe that just showing up for class is good enough, that ignoring the hard tasks — studying and learning — is acceptable … what I call the “entitlement attitude.” My students discover early that they must abandon that attitude, or fail. When teachers give students what they don’t deserve, they are doing them a terrible injustice. Young people must be taught that earning one’s way in life is requisite to making life meaningful. They must learn to do the hardest part first; they must realize that nobody starts at the top; they must accept the reality that building a strong educational foundation is one of the hardest parts of becoming an honorable, productive member of society; they must realize that in the workplace, one of the hardest parts will be accepting and completing the sometimes menial responsibilities that come with the initial steps of climbing the ladder to success; they must embrace the inviolable truth that anything worth having is worth struggling for. Teachers must instill humility in students, and the certainty that an inflated view of one’s importance is bogus self-esteem. Winners are not prima donnas; they are humble, self-reliant, productive people who conquer the most difficult challenges first, and in time realize that doing so provides the experience that makes future challenges easier. My New Year’s resolution is to teach students what Jaybird taught me: When you face a task, do this first — the hardest part.