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By Karmyn Jones
“Never stop. Don't slow down. Never get comfortable where you are. Discipline yourself to always want more, strive to be better, and always work harder than the “you” of yesterday. Focus on your current goal, while envisioning the next one. Then, once you achieve that goal, bask in the sunlight of your success for a moment… enjoy that victory, and then get back to work.”
These are words that were not necessarily spoken to me, but they were spoken by my dad to another group of people. When I heard this, I thought “this is every speech he has ever given me summed up into a few sentences.” When I was younger, I used to laugh at the fact that I would get speeches about my future every day because it was so far away. Now, I am thankful for those words because my future is quickly approaching.
Hearing this made me realize that getting comfortable can actually hurt you. You should always try to be better than you were before. Someone that comes to mind when I think about that is my stepmom. She worked hard to become a nurse and recently became a nurse practitioner. She is now pursuing a DNP (Doctor of nursing practice). I asked her why because the reason most people get a DNP is to teach and she doesn't want to do that. She said something along the lines of “It’s the last degree I can get, so why shouldn't I be the best I can possibly be?”
This reminded me that everyone should fight everyday to be better than they were yesterday. Staying in the same place doesn’t benefit you or the world. Working hard to achieve new goals is what I should do and what everyone else should do.
Karmyn, of Independence, Ky., is a member of the McConnell Scholar Class of 2026 at the University of Louisville. She plans to study neuroscience and political science.