Dedication
Sometimes getting it done means grinding harder than anyone else is willing.
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Transcript:
Hey, everybody this is your host Shane Jacks, actually one of your hosts. She Jacks with the PDR college Podcast hour. Other hosts Mr. Keith Cosentino will not be with us this week because he actually ruptured his Achilles tendon trying to make the movie Troy, doing it for his wife or something, Brad Pitt. I don’t know, just joking. He is a very busy man and he’s got a lot on his plate right now that I’m not going to go into. I’ll let him share that with us at a later date. But the fellow is moving at a very high rate of speed, like he always does, but he’s got a little added pressure for this week, and for the next few weeks. I’m giving him a little bit of a break this week. And actually, I am – it may sound a bit different, the audio may be a bit different because it is. I am traveling right now.
I’m sitting in a car, sitting in my wife’s car, in the middle of nowheresville Georgia. I honestly have no idea where I’m at. I’m in the parking lot of a hotel, though. We have stopped and we are traveling. So it’s gonna sound a bit different. It is currently 1:15 in the morning and I am – I almost said filming. I’m a bit tired. So I am recording this podcast from the road, which is kind of funny in itself. and it got me thinking, actually several things today got me thinking about the topic of this podcast because we didn’t decided until earlier today that I was just going to do it alone and give Keith this break because it was going to be hard to get together this past week to record this thing, and just decided to do it by myself, as we’ve done several times in the past. It got me to thinking about the topic for today. I kind of changed it up since Keith isn’t with us. I decided to do it on dedication and determination.
Again, several things got me thinking about this, one was Keith, with everything that he’s’ got going on right now, he is dedicated and determined to make his businesses work. He and I both and many of you are involved in many different things between my actual dent business, and the tool business, and then this podcast, and the family, everything else that we – the many different hats that we have to wear each week, you have to be determined, focused, you have to be dedicated to make it all work. Right now I am very dedicated to this podcast, to be recording at 1:15 in the morning. And I will be up at around 6:30 or 7:00 to continue our travels, that is dedication. Am I patting myself on the back? No, honestly Keith has more dedication and determination with this podcast than I have, just to be honest with you. So Keith, shout out to you. I know you’re going to listen to this thing, so kudos to you my brother for pushing me.
And that is one of the reasons I am so dedicated and determined to get these podcast out at weird hours, in the morning, at night, whatever it has to be, on Saturdays. We do these things at weird times because we are so busy with the other things that we are committed to in our lives also. So literally to achieve anything in life, there must be dedication or determination. If it’s getting out of the bed in the morning, it doesn’t matter what time of the morning or day – if you’re my daughter sometimes, or my son. They stay up really late sometimes, and I think my son will be up until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, and then he’ll get up at 7:00 and then decide he wants to fall back asleep at 8:00, and God know what time he is going to get up after that. And we do get him up; don’t think we’re those guys. Don’t think I’m that guy. He does – they’re good kids. They work hard, very hard actually.
I’m very proud of my kids, but they can stay in the bed at times. But even for them to get up at, whatever time in the morning they get up at, or even the laziest person on earth, they have to be dedicated or determined to get out of bed or they just stay in there. Now that dedication may be to the bottle or whatever else it is that they are getting out of bed for, but they have to be determined to do it. It may be just because they’re so – they’re aching from lying in bed too long, but they do have to be determined. To do anything you have to be determined or have dedication to do that thing. I know it’s not the greatest example in the world, but to literally get anything achieved in life, you have to be dedicated and determined to achieve that goal, no matter how small it may be, now the level of dedication and determination that is what changes.
I’m gonna set a few – I wrote down a few of my own quote, un-quote rules that I created here about determination and dedication. Number one; there must be a focus and a true reason. And what got me thinking about the focus and the true reason, I was helping my daughter while we we’re traveling in the last few days. She is in these insane classes. She’s a crazy smart girl. She got a super high GPA, fourth in her class. And then her class is really – there are a lot of intelligent people in her class, so we’re crossing our fingers that that big full ride is gonna come through. So I really hope that comes through and then daddy won’t have to pay for the 8 to 12 years of college that that chick is going to do. She has dedication to her school work and determination, and in her cheering.
And she’s gonna play basketball this year possibly. And the kid just doesn’t give up. And I would like to think that myself as an example to her has helped her determination and her dedication to everything that she does. The kid goes all out. So she’s in these crazy – they’re not honors, AP, whatever it is, she is going to get college credit for in her junior year of high school. She’s in these insanely difficult classes. One thing that I am fairly gifted at is English. Many of you know I’m a word nerd and I do like to write. I’m fairly good at it, so I’m helping her with this crazy English that she has homework over the summer. We’ve literally spent – she has probably spent 10 to 12 hours on it already, and collectively we have spent 4 to 6 hours on these English project so far, and we have probably 10 to 12 more hours left before she goes back to school in a few weeks to complete these.
So we’re on the way here and we’re reading a book and it’s talking about essays, it’s talking about thesis, the thesis of the essay, and talking about opinion. And you have to narrow it down; you have to really get precise with your thesis, so you will know what you’re arguing. That’s where I come up with this number one honestly, was from this book talking about thesis. So there must be a focus and a true reason for your dedication. If there’s not, you’re just going – you might be dedicated and you might be determined in a goal, if you’re dedication and determination – if your goal is so broad as I want to make X amount of money, well, you’re going to be chasing every rabbit down every hole that there is possibly out there. So you need to focus – you need to hone it down just like in an essay with the thesis statements that they’re teaching her in these essays.
You need to hone it down and really – it really – the book is a really good book actually. I think it’s called The Art of Writing. It’s really good because it teaches a lot of the things that I’ve been preaching to my kids. I tell them, you must know the other side of an opinion before you really know your own opinion. And that’s one of the reasons that I really enjoy to, most would say quote, unquote argue, but most of the time it is honestly just an open discussion that I have with people. Because I like to see where they stand, it really sharpens where I stand. It really makes me think and prove where I stand, and that’s what they’re preaching in this book, teaching in this book The Art of Writing. There has to be a focus and a true reason for that dedication and that determination. And then once you have that focus, then you go all out.
You just go all in. and you are dedicated and determined to that one single focus, that true reason, or cause that you are dedicated to, and determined to achieve or finish or reach, whatever goal it is that you have in that focus. Thomas Edison said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.” Believe it to be true fellows. It’s not just about – people that are true thinkers, they’re not just naturally gifted 100 percent with intelligence, with being completely and totally brilliant. They have to work at it to make it better. These people don’t sit around all day and have blank minds, you know, they are actually – they actually have to work at it to be smarter because they want to be smarter. They have a natural intelligence and they just want to work harder and get to this next level, so that’s what they do.
They work their tails off. They have that 1 percent inspirations and that 99 percent perspiration that you and I must have to be determined and dedicated in a goal or a focus that we have. Number two, you must consider the cons or the oppositions to that focused that you have. And you’ve got to overcome them by creating rational ways around them, rational ways to get around those obstacles. And that again is another part of the book. It’s funny that I decided to do this podcast on dedication and determination, and this book on writing essays has parallels that are so well to this. Again, you have to consider the cons, and you have to concede that there are cons. If you want to – I’m just gonna give a quick example here. We wanted to create this podcast. All right, we’re going to do a podcast on paint less dent removal, Keith and I.
What are the cons? We had to actually, and still do have to actually look at the cons of that. One of the big cons is sitting in a car at 1:30 in the morning recording. That is a con. That is not something – I mean, I’m having fun doing this, but I’m not gonna lie to you, I would rather be laying in that bed in the hotel, just to be 100 percent honest with you, but I was dedicated and determined, and I have weighed this con. I have met it face to face and there it is. We have made – Keith and I make a conscious concerted effort to make a way around those cons. What would another con be? Oh, we actually had to buy equipment to do this with. Another con is it’s kind of uncharted territory. We’ve never really done this. It’s never really been done a podcast on paint less dent removable. That was a con and a pro, actually.
So you’ve got to take these cons and you’ve got to find a way around them. With the tools, we are creating new tools. A con of Keith creating a new tab, one of the cons is there are 100 different tabs out there already. You know what, but he was determined to make them better, same with the glue. And so he weighed the cons, and he said dag gummite, I’m not going to let that be the end of the answer. I am going to achieve something better. I’m going to do something better, even though these obstacles are in my face. In your personal life, you can apply this to your personal life also, with your family. With fitness, let’s take fitness for example. There is a huge con to being in shape and that is you have to frickin work to get there. One thing that I was dedicated to – one reason I am sitting here at 1:30 in the morning is because I left about an hour and a half later than I would have if I didn’t come home and actually ride my bicycle.
I wanted to ride it. I wanted to get one more ride in before we left. So you know what, dag gamut I did it. And here I am early in the morning recording a podcast for you guys. But I’m dedicated to riding that bike. I’m enjoying it right now, so I made a sacrifice. You’ve got to weigh these cons and then find a way around them and just push through them. So you must consider the cons or the opposing – the oppositions, and you have to find ways around them. Number three: there must be resolve in the face – and this kind of goes with number two, I understand that. There must be resolve in the face of that opposition. There must be resolve in the face of that opposition. There has to be a no quit, I’m going to do this no matter what resolve that you have to have to be dedicated. I’m going to read – and again, I don’t – I’m going to put a disclaimer at the front of this. Don’t get offended by this.
This is a story, actually about Christianity, but honestly for me it’s a cool story. You can replace it with anything else that you are dedicated to and it works. It’s just a really neat story, and it just happens to have the name Jesus and Christ in it a few times. So if it offends you, just cut it off right now, that’s not my mission to offend you. I am just here to tell this story. In 1980 a young man from Rwanda was forced by his tribe to either renounce Christ or face certain death. He refused to renounce Christ and he was killed on the spot. The night before he had written the following commitment, which was found in his room. “I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line, the decision has been made. I’m a disciple of Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed.
My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, site walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tainted vision, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. My face is set. My gate is fast. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow. My way is rough. My companions are few. My guide is reliable. My mission is clear. I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up and stored up, prayed up for the cause of Jesus Christ. I must go until he comes, give until I drop, preach until everyone knows, work until he stops me. And when he comes for his own, he will have no trouble recognizing me because my banner will have been cleared.” I heard this story many years ago in a sermon, and again not trying to offend anyone, but it is a really good sermon.
This dude was anybody committed to his cause, and that’s what you have to be. If you’ve got a cause, you have to have resolve that you are going to do it no matter what happens. We have a ton of things in our life that we are dedicated to, and we choose to be dedicated to. There are a ton of things that we should be dedicated to that we don’t give enough dedication to. One, often times is family when we get so busy with work. And it gets absolutely crazy and the family gets left behind a bit. Keith and I, we sacrifice time with our families to do this podcast. And honestly, we more – I know he does, and I do – we more sacrifice sleep than anything because we don’t want to sacrifice that time with our families as much. So there is a sacrifice there that no matter – you have to resolve that no matter what happens that cause, you are determined and you are dedicated to achieve or to finish.
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Number four, and this is the last one: the long road is the only road. The long road is the only road. There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. That’s a pretty good quote that I read. There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. And that got me thinking, I posted this actually tonight on Facebook, actually. Is said, you know, to go into unchart – I was thinking to myself – to go into uncharted territories, you have to be willing to go farther than anyone else has. And that’s the truth. So it’s not going to be easy. I know all this sounds negative, but it’s really not because the prize at the end, if it’s something you really really really want, then it’s there, it’s achievable, you can reach it. When you reach it you are happy. It’s a goal that you have obtained and you have worked your but off for.
Riding my bike, again I’m gonna use that example, riding my bicycle. Man, I was actually talking to one of the listeners of the podcast, and a friend of mine in the business earlier today. And he has begun running. And I was talking about myself riding, man it’s – I really don’t have this ultimate goal in riding right now. I don’t have a time or a – well, actually I do want to do a century, which is of course riding 100 miles, but I’m not really focusing o that goal right now. I’m just having fun on the bike. But one of the things that is fun on the bike is beating the time that you had on the same route. If you up your speed and you’re three tenths of a mile an hour faster, it’s like: heck, yeah. But it’s really6 hard to do. And he was talking about running and the same thing. It’s a personal competition against himself to beat his last time.
But it’s really cool to see, it’s really could to do, and to achieve something new. And to achieve a goal that you’ve worked so hard for. Again, a lot of this stuff sounds negative, but in the negative it’s making you stronger. So that’s what I wanted to talk about today was dedication and determination. No, we’re not going really long here, but it was thinking because it was something that was on my mind and on my heart. Just kind of wanted to encourage you guys with all this negative junk, But seriously, set those goals, and when you have those goals consider all the negative sand the positives ad just push through, and just Git-R-Done. I personally thank Keith because the guy pushes me pretty dog gone hard.
And he doesn’t really push push me, but watching him do all t stuff that he does and with the podcast. And with his other businesses he has going. He is constantly thinking. Thank you Keith for pushing me is this podcast and in other areas of my life, I’ve achieved greater things because of your guidance, Keith. But again, I just want to thank him. And guys, just keep going, stay dedicated, go after those goals and hit them. If you go after them hard enough, you will hit them if you’re determined enough, and you have the dedication to see it through. Guys, until next time, get better.
This is Keith Cosentino, the co-host and creator of the PDR College Podcast. And I wanted to take a minute to talk to you about my tools, the Black Plague tabs, specifically the smooth series tabs. These things are amazing. Why haven’t you bought them yet? We’re out here trying to make the industry better and they’ve been around for awhile now. And I need to send this message to you specifically to say, “Buy my ‘BLEEP’ tabs.”
[End of Audio]Duration: 24 minutes
