National Officer Candidate Perspective: Putting Away the Shopping Cart
PERSPECTIVE
with Claire Shelton, National Officer Candidate, Idaho
When I was a sophomore in high school, I decided to take AP Biology, thinking it couldn't be that hard. But I was very wrong. This class rocked my world because for the first time I was challenged academically in a way I had never before been challenged. I had a hard time keeping up with the fast pace, enormous amounts of information, and difficult tests. I always prided myself in being smart and able to pick things up quickly, but the thoughts of self-doubt and disappointment came flooding in. “Maybe I’m just not smart enough.” and “Why did I ever think that I could succeed in this class?” I was struggling to keep going.
But halfway through the semester, my teacher showed the class a video that has stuck with me since that day. The video was about the shopping cart theory. This theory states that the shopping cart is the ultimate test to see if a person is capable of self-governing and holding themselves accountable. Returning a shopping cart after its use is a convenient task that only takes a minute and is the right thing to do, but it's not illegal to not put the cart away nor are there any consequences for leaving it out. Whether a person puts away the shopping cart represents the choice people have to take the one extra step to follow through, do what's right, and finish the task. Or will they not put the cart away because no one is forcing them to. My teacher related this analogy to our class. “Will you work hard to take that extra step to finish strong in the semester and put away the cart, or will you stop trying when things get hard and leave your cart sitting right where you finished using it?”
This analogy of the shopping cart can follow us anywhere in life, especially in FFA. When you don't place how you wanted to in a CDE or LDE. When as a chapter officer team things aren't going as planned. Or when managing your SAE project- it is a much bigger commitment than imagined. Will you choose to put in that extra work even if it's not required of you? Or will you let it be and leave the shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot? The choice is yours. I know for me the choice to “put away the shopping cart” ended up being more rewarding than I ever imagined.
My shopping cart experience started when I ran for a district office. I spent weeks preparing my interview skills for the big day. And when that day came, I didn’t make it onto a spot on the district officer team. I was distraught. I even cried in the McDonald's bathroom afterwards and an employee felt so bad that she gave me a free ice cream cone! Now, I could have ended my time in leadership there, never pushed the shopping cart any further, and walked away. I easily could have left myself and my passion for FFA in disappointment. But I kept that cart moving and ran for state office. Even though I was in my head, questioning my abilities, and thinking “How can I get a state office when I couldn’t get a district office?” I pushed myself to take that extra step, and then I became the Idaho FFA State Secretary!
“How can I get a state office when I cannot get a district office?” I pushed myself to take that extra step, and then I became the Idaho FFA State Secretary!”
After my AP Biology teacher taught me the shopping cart analogy, I learned that if I took that extra step even when things are hard, inconvenient, and don't go the way I had planned, it is so much more rewarding. I studied twice as hard before and I was able to earn an A in that AP Biology class. I then applied this to FFA through my leadership positions which has led to me representing the state of Idaho this year as a National Officer Candidate. When I felt like letting the cart go rolling into the middle of the road after not receiving a district office, I put both hands on the handle and made the decision to put it back. I stuck with it and gave all my effort.
What if you started “putting away the shopping cart” in everything you do? What would change? What could happen? Spending the extra time to follow through and finish the task could lead to better grades, leadership opportunities, and overall satisfaction. Life is about what we decide to do. So, are you going to leave things be? Or are you going to put away that shopping cart?