our motto.

In my kitchen there is a very large chalkboard made from a door.  On that chalkboard made from a door, right in between the big boys' spelling words and the alphabet written in cursive, is our motto for the year.  You've probably all heard of it as the Nike phrase, "Just Do It", but I got ours from just a little somewhere different.  

I found a talk a couple of weeks ago, entitled "Pursuing Excellence", written by Olympian Peter Vidmar.  In that talk that he wrote specifically for young men he mentions the plaque that President Kimball had in his office that simply had the quote "Do it." on it.  Peter Vidmar says "Let's not just talk about what we want to be.  Let's not just dream about what we want to be.  Let's just do it, whatever it takes.  To reach your goals, you may have to work harder than you have ever worked before in your entire life."

That quote really got me.  I want my boys to understand not only the value of work, but to put it into action.  We sit around at dinner time, Family Home Evening time, any time we get a teaching opportunity and talk about how we want them to be hard workers and really spend time working toward their goals.  But it's not just enough to talk about it.  We have to get up and do it. We read the talk as a family last week, and each night we pull a piece that the boys choose to talk about at dinner.  I love the ideas that this man presented and I want each of my little ones to really have it sink into their souls.  I don't just want us to talk about it.  I want them to do something with it.

Read it.  I know you'll love it.  My favorite part right now is giving a little extra every day.  15 minutes a day really adds up.  I can do that and I can teach my children the value of giving just a little extra every day.

And as we walk into the kitchen and we look at that very large chalkboard made from a door, that spot right in between the big boys' spelling words and the alphabet in cursive, we will be reminded to "just do it.  Whatever it takes.".