Everyone one of us has an X-factor within us which, when used properly, allows you to excel to levels you have only dreamt of. That X-factor is the power of your will and mindset. There will always be people that are just as talented as you or just as smart as you. However, if you believe that you will wind up being better than everyone else and are willing to develop the work ethic that will get you there than you will rise above everyone 
else. The thing about hard work is that in the beginning it does not really seem to be paying off which is why a lot of people tend to slack. However, what those people do not realize is that the ones that continue to put in the effort are the ones who do succeed. Through hardship and through opulent times it is necessary to always strive for more and out-work everyone around you, that is unless you are happy with mediocrity. There is no reason why you cannot be early to work and leave late everyday. Doing things like this will get you recognized and put you in good terms with your management.
What goes hand in hand with this whole mindset is being able to deal with failure. Failure is inevitable. Even if it is just something small at some point we all fail at something. Thomas Edison failed 6000 times before he finally came up with a working light bulb! The key is being able to immediately move on from your failure and stick to your intitial goals. The only way you will ever be able to push yourself and find out how far you can go is by not fearing failure. In weight-lifting terms how would if you can bench 315 ponds unless you try it? Overcoming this fear of failure and rejection is especially important for those who are interested in getting into sales or business development upon graduation.
In my opinion failure and mediocrity are both just state of minds. If you go into something thinking your going to fail or go into something with the intention of just trying to get by than you will never impress anyone or really advance anywhere. You’ll get your company wide raise every X amount of months and that will be about it. That is not the life I want. I put 110% into everything I do and sacrifice a lot of my personal time to increase my chances of success. I am a big believer in the saying “sacrifice for the greater good” and right now is the time to sacrifice. Sacrifice going to the bars on a Thursday night and stay a few more hours at work. My goal is to make a meaningful impact on the world and to be remembered, not to just be an expendable cog in the system from the ages of 21-65, take as little responsibility as possible along the way, retire and die. If you also want to change the world with me than NOW is your time to start. Also, lets not forget that you have to work hard to ball hard and that sounds pretty damn good to me.
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