Frustrating Toil Becomes A Fun Goal

Henry Emerson Fosdick wrote about growing up in upstate New York where one summer's day his mother sent him out to pick a quart of raspberries. 

"I dragged my feet in rebellion," he said, "and the can was filling very slowly.  Then a new idea came: it would be fun to pick two quarts of raspberries and surprise her.  I had so interesting a time picking two quarts to the utter amazement of the household, and they never forgot it.  I have often forgotten the philosophy of it: we can change any situation by changing our attitude toward it."

- Alan Loy McGinnis, The Power of Optimism (Harper & Row Publishers, 1990)