When I was 8 years old, my brother (age 10) and I started a paper route. We had to get up everyday of the year, without exceptions, at 5 am and deliver around 100 newspapers. Rain, snow, and exhaustion didn’t matter- the papers had to be delivered. So we did it everyday for four years.
Having this responsibility at a young age taught me how to work hard, be consistent and follow through even when I didn’t feel like it.
My mom recently sent me this letter she found from one of our customers and it reminded me how much learning how to work hard with a paper route has served me throughout my life.
Learning how to work is an invaluable lesson to learn. I’ve been able to take the lessons I learned from that paper route and apply them to everything I’ve endeavored to do. It is something we should strive to teach our children and one that we must learn for ourselves. As Thomas Edison said, “There is no substitute for hard work.”