“Without diligence, nothing good or interesting can happen.”
Diligence can be defined as: careful and persistent work or effort. This characteristic is very important to me and my life. Without diligence, nothing good or interesting can happen.
I remember the time my dad bought a broken car. It was last summer. I was 11 years old. I was playing with my cat named Reggie. I heard a huge noise and I looked out the window. I saw my dad towing the black, Toyota Prius. It looked like a “junker,” about to fall apart.
He towed it into our garage and told me it was going to be the best car ever. He says that a lot. I couldn’t possibly imagine how he thought that. It was in pieces! Over the next couple of weeks, dad woke up super early in the morning so he could get to work early. That way, he could get home sooner and have more time to work on this car. Basically, he spent dawn to late night working. As I went to bed every night, I could still hear him working in the garage.
He never gave up. He kept at it, night after night. This showed me a great example of diligence. My family shows me a great example of this trait and I will try to be this same way. Because he chose to work so hard and not give up, in two months, the car was perfectly finished and driving like crazy! We drive it now!
In my life, so far, I realize that the example of diligence helps me a lot. When I learned piano, my teacher wanted me to go to a competition at Gonzaga. My first reaction was, “No way.” But my mom talked me into it. She told me that I was ready and that I shouldn’t be nervous. She believed in me. I decided to take a chance. I worked really hard on my songs. I practiced two hours a day. When the day of the competition came, I practiced on the Gonzaga piano to get used to it. My teacher took us to a room with three judges. I was super nervous that I thought about running out of the building. But I didn’t.
I was up first. My opponents– a girl and a boy– went after me. Out of all the songs in the world, the boy chose the exact same song as me! When I was finished, I felt relieved. The judges took 5 minutes to decide what score to give everyone. It turned out that they gave me 99 percent—the highest score in my age bracket! All that practice paid off. And, I got to play on a national radio station.
If I could give advice to kids my age, it would be to learn something and keep at it. Don’t give up. Being good at something takes hard work. Diligence. If you keep trying your hardest, it pays off. That is what I know for sure.
Vladislav Gordeyev is a 6th grader at Trent Elementary. He was born in Spokane and lives with his parents and siblings. Vlad plays violin, hockey and soccer. His favorite book is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. He loves kiwi ice cream and traveling with his family. His favorite vacation destination so far was a trip to Victoria, Canada.
