11/19/2015
Success is not as much about your potential, as it is about your dedication to consistency.
Prolific author John Maxwell illustrates this principle as man who wakes up every morning and swings his ax at a tree, five times. Through the power of consistency, the tree will fall. Those that see the task as impossible have often swung their ax, maybe even leaving their mark upon it, but ultimately gave up.
The question becomes not whether the tree will fall, rather are you dedicated enough to swing the ax every day? What about when it’s raining outside, or when the task becomes inconvenient?
Your potential and existing skills and talents will either aide as an accelerant to the process, or deceive you into thinking the process is unnecessary! This is why you may have someone half as talented, hundreds of times more successful than their peer. They’ve applied a principle of effectiveness.
The 10,000 hour rule states that to become and expert at something, you’ve got to put in the time. You may have the potential to be the greatest guitarist on earth, but you’ll always pale in comparison to the person with the dedication to make it happen.
All of this begs the question – what’s your tree? What does success look like for you? After all, if you aim at nothing – you’ll hit it every time.
If you own and operate your business or in sales or maybe a leadership position in your company, I’d like to speak with you about helping you grow your business with our local networking BNI chapter.
Thanks!
David Cole
BNI Midland Founders President
P.S. Leaving with a GREAT video illustrating the principle of consistency!
I wanted to see how long it would take to learn a particular skill with deliberate. I chose skateboarding and set the milestone at a kick flip. I recorded ev...
