THE NATURE OF SUCCESS - Simple Truths

For all of us there are times when we’re overwhelmed. There is too much to do, and too little time to do it! This, of course, causes stress; and we all know...stress is not good!

When I was a freshman in college, I learned a simple lesson that I never forgot. And to this day, when I have too many things on my plate and feel stress raising its ugly head, I repeat to myself what I heard over 40 years ago. It worked then, and for me....it still does!

I’ll share the story from my book, The Nature of Success, in the chapter titled: Set Realistic Goals. I hope it helps you as much as it did me!

Live With Passion,

Mac Anderson
Founder, Simple Truths

Set Realistic Goals

I was having a rough week when there was a lot to do and very little time to do it. I was overwhelmed. I panicked.

That night a friend stopped by my dorm room. When I told him my problem, he said, “Mac, I’ll share something with you that my grandmother told me a few years ago. She said to always remember: ‘Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.’”

I said, “Bob, here I am drowning in work and your lifeline is a quote from your grandmother. Come on!”

After he left, however, those twelve little words kept dancing in my head. I took out a piece of notebook paper and listed all the things I had to do in the next three days. That night I began knocking them off one by one.

Three days later I took out that paper and marked through the last thing on the list. It felt great! And then I took out another piece of paper and wrote down the words: “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.” I then folded the paper and put it in my wallet. As many of you know, I’ve been collecting quotes ever since.

You see, over the years I’ve learned that success doesn’t come cascading like Niagara Falls; it comes one drop at a time through short-term, realistic goals.

Experts on motivation disagree on a lot of things, but one thing they all agree on is that your levels of motivation are directly tied to your expected probabilities of success. In other words, if you believe you can do something (the goals are realistic), you’re likely to be highly motivated. If, however, you think you can’t (because the goals are unrealistic) your motivation level falls greatly.

The lesson here is to continue to dream big dreams, but realize that the short-term goals that take you to the next plateau are the real keys to success.

P.S. To find out more about The Nature of Success you can click on the image below, or if you haven’t seen the three minute inspirational movie you can click here to watch it.

Prepare to be inspired!

The article above was excerpted from the book "The Nature of Success" by Mac Anderson.
It is reprinted here with permission. You may share this story as long as you do not edit the
content; leave the links and this resource box intact. SimpleTruths.com