At a young age, I was naturally drawn to activities that exercised skill and creativity, however, my mother and father played vital roles in developing my work ethic and creativity. My mother always encouraged me to try new things and be open-minded. Whenever I came to her excited about something new I wanted to try, she would always look right at me and reply, "go for it, why not?" My father engraved a valuable lesson in my mind about developing your skills.  One evening, I quickly finished my homework then gave it to my father for review. He took a moment, glanced at my sloppy handwriting, looked back at me, then instructed me to redo it. Frustratingly, I pulled out a new piece of paper, sharpened my pencil, and started over. I came to my father again desperately hoping to have earned his approval so I could go play but to my expectation, he looked at me, told me to slow down, I could do better and you guessed it, do it again. At the time I was infuriated, however, that moment stuck with me for the rest of my life. To this day, I don't believe my father remembers that day but I reflect back on that moment all the time.  That day helped me to understand patience and what was required in order to develop any skill that I pursued.