Excerpt Taken From My Book
The Laguage of Success: How To Win With Minimal Effort
Chapter 1
“An Error Is Not A Mistake Until You Refuse To Correct It”
The memories of Mrs. Jackson’s fourth grade class still ring vividly in my mind. Every fourth grade girl I ever had a crush on was in her class. Mrs. Jackson was kind of cute, too. I grew infatuated with Mrs. Jackson’s little ladies and their ensemble of ponytails with color coordinated barrettes. Some were short, and some were tall. Some were missing their front teeth, but they all seemed to look good because they were in Mrs. Jackson’s class.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Jackson was not my forth grade teacher. I was in Ms. Snead’s class, a woman who, on a regular basis, consumed plain Buggles, dipped in Peter Pan peanut butter. I despised the smell, but in a peculiar way, I connected with Ms. Snead. She embraced me and in return, I would try and overlook the dried peanut butter stains on my quiz papers.
Ms. Snead was an older woman. She retired shortly after I graduated from elementary school. When I started middle school, I really began to miss her, God bless her soul. Ms. Snead never went out for recess and since I got in trouble for excessive talking on a regular basis, we talked at least twice a week during playtime. Although I was her student for one year, Ms. Snead taught me a lesson that has helped me achieve success in every area of my life. In our conversations, I would tell her about the Ten Commandments, and she would tell me about jazz saxophonists John Coltrane and Charlie “Bird” Parker. I told her my theory on how eating to much pop rocks candy would cause uncontrollable flatulence and she told about how warm water might help.
The most important conversation I had with Ms. Snead however, was not about school, history, music, or anything of the like. Instead, it was about a girl in Mrs. Jackson’s class. I told Ms. Snead the girl was pretty and that I didn’t mind her having a missing tooth. Ms. Snead laughed, and laughed, and coughed, and laughed. Not seeing the humor, I finally asked, “What’s so funny Ms. Snead?” She replied, “I’m sorry, that was so sweet.” I replied, “Yuck! I hate that word!” She laughed again. Then I asked the most important question in life to any boy starting to notice girls, “What do I do? What do I say to her?” And of course, she said, “leave that girl alone.” I was not satisfied with her answer, so I continued to press my claim. Finally, she uttered these words, “if you must talk to her, just be yourself.” A piece of cake, so I thought.
The next day, I was on my best behavior, because I wanted to make it to recess to see the girl of my dreams. When the clock struck 1 o’clock pm and my name was on the list of those with good behavior, I was excited and ready. My shirt was tucked in, my Franklins were lased tight, and my hair cut, well, lets just say it could have been worst. Soon as we touched the playground, I spotted my lady and went over to tell her about jazz and pop rocks, and of course, to ask her to be my girlfriend. What’s really crazy is I had only seen her in passing and we had never met. I walked towards her as cool as I knew how, and just as I came within three feet of her; I tripped over my own shoelaces and fell at her feet. When I got up, she said “your nose and your forehead is bleeding,” and then she walked away.
I was devastated. I had blown my chance to have the girl of my dreams. The next day, I decided to stay in during recess, just so I could tell Ms. Snead how badly I messed up. After I had explained my story, Ms. Snead walked me to Ms. Jackson’s empty classroom, and instructed me to read a banner posted on the bulletin board. Those words not only helped me redeem myself with my dream girl, but they have guided me to success in everything I endeavor to accomplish. The banner read “A mistake is not an error until you refuse to correct it.” Ms. Snead assured me that we are not defined solely by the mistakes we make. Instead, we are measured by the mistakes we do not repeat. Apparently, I made a mistake when I tied my shoes before recess that day. I swore to double tie my shoestrings everyday for so long as my shoes had strings. I still do that today!
I did not talk to my dream girl again for a while. The next time we talked was after I placed second in the math Olympics at our school. She was the 1st place winner. When I saw her this time, I reintroduced myself, apologized about the recess mishap, and asked her to be my girlfriend. We were together for two weeks, which was considerably long for two people who could not receive incoming calls from friends at home. In the fourth grade, the quote simply meant don’t quit. Today, I believe the quote is a fundamental component to speaking the language of success.
