Marian Wright Edelman was born in Bennettsville, SC in 1939. She grew up in the pre-Civil Rights years and was active in the Civil Rights Movement. She finished her education at Yale Law School and became an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She has been and is now a strong advocate for children and she founded the Children's Defense Fund. Marian continues talking and working for the children today.
Marian wrote an open letter to her three grown children and included the 25 lessons of life to drive home what her and her husband had been teaching their children.
You ask how this applies to Real Estate. The 25 lessons of life have as much meaning today for everyone that works in this business as it does for each and every person. Applying her 25 lessons will not only build us as people but will build us as business people also.
Let's take a minute and read these lessons and see how we can apply them to our lives as business people and families.
1. There is no free lunch. Don't feel entitled to anything you don't sweat and struggle for.
2. Set goals and work quietly and systematically toward them.
3. Assign yourself.
4. Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.
5. Don't be afraid of taking risks or of being criticized.
6. Take parenting and family life seriously and insist that those you work for and who represent you do, too.
7. Remember that your wife (husband) is not your mother (father) or your maid (servant), but your partner and friend.
8. Forming families is serious business.
9. Be honest.
10. Remember and help America remember that the fellowship of human beings is more important than the fellowship of race and class and gender in a democratic society.
11. Sell the shadow for substance. Don't confuse style with meaning.
12. Never give up.
13. Be confident that you can make a difference.
14. Don't ever stop learning and improving your mind.
15. Don't be afraid of hard work or of teaching your children to work.
16. Slow down and live.
17. Choose your friends carefully.
18. Be a can-do, will try person.
19. Try to live in the present.
20. Use your political and economic power for the community and for others less fortunate.
21. Listen for "the sound of the genuine" within yourself and others.
22. You are in charge of your own attitude.
23. Remember your roots, your history, and the forebears' shoulders on which you stand.
24. Be reliable. Be faithful. Finish what you start.
25. Always remember that you are never alone.
May these simple lessons bring success and happiness to each and everyone of you.
