Stagecoach lines had three classes of tickets.  

• First Class tickets assured the holder that regardless of what happened on the journey, you never had to leave your seat.  
  
  
• Second Class passengers had to exit their seats when something happened on the trip but nothing else was demanded.  

• Third Class passengers found life much different. If something happened, you were responsible to get the situation fixed and help get the stagecoach back on its way. It was in essence a “working ticket.” 

In life and career, you can also find three types of people.  First, those who feel all there is to do is “show up.” There is nothing more these individuals feel should be done.  Simply “being there” is enough.   

Next, you will find people who stand around and watch what is happening. These individuals consider themselves “experts” and are also the first to offer critical commentary about issues but have no desire to provide or assist in solutions.   

Finally, you find those individuals who get things done.  Each steps out and “pushes or pulls” when it is needed.  They are the true “go-to” individuals. These “workers” provide and execute the solutions and get the results needed. 

It is important to realize that life’s adventures do not provide a “free” ride. However, life does offer you every opportunity to advance, to gain; but, it also demands that you “work” to achieve that success. You will never accomplish anything of significance if you simply come along for the ride or stand around and talk about how a situation should have been approached. You must get in there, get your hands dirty and work to achieve the goal! 

Harry Truman was a no-nonsense president whose attitude toward life was summed up this way: “I found that the men and women who get to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.” Thus a willingness to work and seek solutions does matter. 

It is easy to be pulled by your successes into a state of complacency. It is easy to “let-up” in your drive to reach valued accomplishments when things are really going your way. Why shouldn’t you? You have paid your “dues” along the way. It is time to celebrate all that success and put those hours of toil that got you to where you are now, aside. You are there! But, are you really? 

When you set aside and lose the desire for work, you in essence lose your drive and ambition to make things happen. Thus, you lose. You join those who either stand on the outside talking about what should be done or who simply want to show up because each feels deserving. In reality, have you not truly lost who you are, in essence? 

To be the winner you strive to be, you must realize that though others may consider you an expert, there is yet much more to learn. Never abandon your will to work, though your progress toward getting the results you need may indeed evolve. Take a “third class” mindset and build a “first-class” result for your life and career. The “seat” you strive to hold for the journey will, in essence, guide your pathway.