"How Do You Tackle Your Work?"

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The energy you put into your work or in making a success of your life is important as well. The larger the task, the more energy and perseverance you put forth, the bigger the results. Make a commitment to yourself to do your best in all things.

How Do You Tackle Your Work?

How do you tackle your work each day?
Are you scared of the job you find?
Do you grapple the task that comes your way
With a confident, easy mind?
Do you stand right up to the work ahead
Or fearfully pause to view it?
Do you start to toil with a sense of dread
Or feel that you're going to do it?

You can do as much as you think you can,
But you'll never accomplish more;
If you're afraid of yourself, young man,
There's little for you in store.
For failure comes from the inside first,
It's there if we only knew it,
And you can win, though you face the worst,
If you feel that you're going to do it.

Success! It's found in the soul of you,
And not in the realm of luck!
The world will furnish the work to do,
But you must provide the pluck.
You can do whatever you think you can,
It's all in the way you view it.
It's all in the start you make, young man:
You must feel that you're going to do it.

How do you tackle your work each day?
With confidence clear, or dread?
What to yourself do you stop and say
When a new task lies ahead?
What is the thought that is in your mind?
Is fear ever running through it?
If so, just tackle the next you find
By thinking you're going to do it.

~Edgar A. Guest (1881 - 1959)

Originally from England, Guest and his family moved to America in 1891 where he became known as the People's Poet. The poems he wrote were of a sentimental, optimistic nature. "How Do You Tackle Your Work?" can be found in his collection of poems entitled A Heap O' Livin' (1916).

In the future, I plan on setting up a specific page to feature the inspirational life poems by Edgar A. Guest. In the meantime, though, you can read more of his excellent poetry by clicking the links below:

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How Do You Tackle Your Work?
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Inspirational Poems of Hope and Courage