Edgar Guest was a well-loved poet in the early 1900’s. He wrote a poem a day for thirty years for the Detroit Free Press. Known as the People’s Poet in the United States, he wrote about easy to read poems that people could relate to. This is one of his poems that has a lot of great truths that we can learn from today. Current research is proving more and more what he is discussing; your mindset will make the difference in what you can accomplish!

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 that 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.