Writing Project: We Have a Winner!

The Writing Project: Well, we had some great entries and I want to thank you guys and girls who submitted a piece, for going to the effort and taking the time to share part of you. Writing for an audience is a tough gig and you all did great. You can take a peek at all of the submissions by clicking on the ‘writing project’ link in the right hand sidebar.
I know that some of you wrote creatively for the first time in decades (or perhaps, ever), so I commend you for that. You stopped contemplating and you started doing. The first step towards amazing.

Anyway, our special guest blogger for today (our last post of the year) is the winner of our little project, Leanne Magraith. Congratulations Leanne, you did a great job and we are honoured to have you share your creativity and talent with us.

Here we go.

Ignite that Spark of Belief.
by Leanne Magraith

“Life Sucks and then you Die”. The slogan on the t-shirt was not the worst I had seen but I could tell I was going to have my work cut out for me. Tony with the attitude to match the t-shirt came into my office, sat down and made no eye contact. His gaze shifted from out the window to down at the floor. Tony was 23 and had never worked since leaving school at 15.

My job was as case manager of the very long term unemployed, at a time when unemployment rates where well over 10%. I had a caseload of almost 80 clients and in the last 6 months only one of my clients had found work. I was feeling pretty jaded and had formed the opinion that a lot of the people on my case load were just not interested in working. I started to go through the motions with Tony. I had my spiel down pat and asked the usual questions and got the usual monologue answers, “yes”, “no”, “dunno”.

I completed the obligatory Newstart agreement that had to be completed in order for Tony to continue to receive Newstart Allowance (Unemployment benefits). I looked at my watch and found I still had 15 minutes left of the scheduled 45 minutes. Hey this is good I was thinking to myself… I’ll have enough time to pop out and get a cappuccino before my next client.

At the end of the interview, I explained to Tony that I would be calling him back in six months time to review the Newstart agreement. I had already assumed that Tony would still be unemployed in 6 months time. Tony looked at me straight in the eye and said “I believe I can get a job before then and I was hoping you could help me”. Far out brussell sprout… this was a rather eloquent statement from Mr mono-syllable with the bad t-shirt. Who needs a cappuccino for a pick me up when someone like this just blows you away with one sentence and that magical word – believe. I had become so jaded and cynical, I never even gave this guy a chance. I thought he was the one with the bad attitude but it turned out the person with the bad attitude was me.

I learnt some really valuable lessons working with Tony over the next few months. No matter how bad things may appear, there is always hope. Tony could have given up – the cards were definitely stacked against him. It wasn’t an easy road for Tony as he had eight years of bad habits to work through and overcome like getting out of bed around 11am, and getting drunk or stoned most nights because he was bored.

Tony believed he could get a job and was prepared to do almost anything to get there. He lost many so called friends who didn’t like the new “boring” Tony who stayed straight and no longer got drunk and stoned. Tony agreed to do a training course in tyre fitting which started at 7.00am – 5 days per week. Tony was the only guy on the course who turned up on time every day.

Tony’s perseverance and commitment was nothing short of amazing, in fact he was an inspiration. He ended up being a mentor to a couple of guys on the tyre fitting course who were causing some problems and helped to pull them back in line. During the course Tony and the other course participants got 2 weeks work experience with a major tyre supplier. Even though Tony was by no means the best tyre fitter, he was only one who was offered full time work with the company. The employer stated it was Tony’s attitude that won them over. Two weeks after starting work there Tony also managed to convince the manager to give another two guys a go – the guys that he helped mentor during the course. Tony went from strength to strength and ended up becoming second in charge in less than 2 years.

In Tony’s case there was one tiny spark of belief just waiting to be ignited. You too can achieve amazing things in your life if you ignite your spark of belief. What fuel do you use to ignite that spark? How about good old fashioned passion, commitment, perseverance, hard work and a never give up attitude for starters? It worked for Tony and it can work for you too.

Give yourself the best Christmas present ever this year. Delve deep inside yourself and find that spark of belief and then ignite that spark of belief. 2008 is the year you can make it happen!

The End.

* Yay Tony! Well done Tony and well done Leanne. I love a good news story.
Enjoy your New Years Eve festivities Groovers, try not to consume more than your own body-weight in alcohol (I know it always seems like a good idea at the time) and I will be back blogging on Thursday January 3 to kick your ass, stimulate your mind and challenge your beliefs.
Be good. Or be good at it.

Ciao.

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