Work Hard & Be Nice to People.

I have a sign hanging up in my house that says "Work hard and be nice to people." My mom bought it for me while we were shopping for my birthday last year. I saw it hanging in Francesca's and loved the simplicity of it. It's some of the best advice, but it's so, so simple. 

When considering what we should do and how we should act, I think we sometimes overcomplicate things that can often be boiled down to these few simple words.

Work hard. At your job, on your hobbies, on becoming who you want to be. Work hard on making your dreams a reality, on being someone you can be proud of. Work hard at the things you are supposed to work hard at and work hard on the things you can sometimes forget deserve hard work, things like bettering yourself, trying to be a good spouse/partner, being kind to people, or standing up for yourself. Life is too short to take the lazy way out on the important things. Work hard. 

Be nice to people. Be nice to those who are nice to you, and be thankful for their friendship. Be nice to those who aren't nice to you, and wave goodbye as you ask them to leave your life. Life is too short to put up with mean people in your life, but it's also too short to be a mean person yourself. So no matter what, be nice to people. Be sweet. Kill 'em with kindness. 

Want to become a better person? Work hard and be nice to people. 

Want to move up in your job? Work hard and be nice to people.

Want to make your life a happier place to live? Work hard and be nice to people.

See? So simple. We overcomplicate things.

Happy Monday, friends. It's a fresh new week (birthday week over here, yay!), and there will be plenty of chances to work hard and be nice. Take them! 

Work, Work, Work.

I think that sometimes the whole "chasing your dreams" idea can make us a little snobby about good opportunities.

Because really, it's pretty easy to tell yourself that you're working hard when you're sitting around pinning motivating quotes on pinterest that are going to help you work hard once a good opportunity comes along.

It's easy to wait for your dream to walk past you before you start chasing it.

It's a lot harder to start chasing it when it's nowhere in sight and you have no idea if you're ever even going to catch up to it.

This month, I decided I was going to take every opportunity that came my way (within reason, of course). If applied for a bunch of freelancing that I really didn't want to do. I worked my butt off for opportunities that paid way less than they should of.  I did so much boring writing that I thought my eyeballs just might fall out.

And you know what?

Freelance writing freaking paid a good portion of my rent this month.

No, it wasn't the type of writing that I love. It wasn't glamorous.  It didn't come with cups of coffee and creativity and excitement.  But I got a paycheck from writing. And that's pretty cool.

If there's a step you can take that puts you even a little bit closer to where you want to be, take it.  Even if it's not the most glamorous step. Even if it doesn't come with confetti and butterflies, like you always thought that following your dreams would look like.

While you're sitting around waiting for that right step to come along, you could have taken ten of those hard working, not so fun steps. And I think those tend to lead you a heck of a lot closer to where you should be.

Bottom line being that sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves, throw on some Iggy, and get to work.


Happy Pumpkin Spice Latte Day! What does chasing your dream look like to you?