One afternoon, I was walking up the stairs of a 3-storey building where I lived with a friend of mine. When we got to the topmost floor, she asked me,"Nigel, how do you manage to climb up and down these stairs everyday?" "It's tiring", she added. I smiled, looked at her and said, "It's because I'm used to it and you're not".
End of story.
What's the essence of telling you that story? It's because I need you to get this point straight: "NOTHING IS TOO HARD OR DIFFICULT TO ACCOMPLISH, YOU'RE EITHER NOT USED TO IT OR YOU LACK THE PASSION FOR IT".
Back in high school days, some of my peers had this belief that math was hard and therefore, they just disliked the math teacher and never paid attention in any of his classes. The result? Few of them who were lucky escaped with E's, but most of them failed woefully.
There were also some who initially thought math was difficult, but when they tried to solve questions on their own, pay more attention to the teacher and try over and over again to solve questions, they became better and good. It then dawned on them that mathematics was easy and they got excellent results.
What am I trying to point out here? Getting to that point where something admirable becomes second nature to you is the goal. I call that point the 'elastic limit'. You subconsciously attain it by constant repetitive activity. It is then your whole system adapts to it and it becomes easy to always do it.
If you're very observant, you'd notice that very successful people in any field have one thing in common. They are always relaxed, calm and poised when they are performing.
Did they master that overnight? No! A very big No. Rather, they've invested time to repeatedly master their skills over and over again until it became an integral part of them.
Smart and driven people understand that excellence is a habit. That's why they put in effort to GET USED TO doing those things necessary to achieve the dream they're passionate about.
There's no big magic to it. Most people don't succeed because it's either they're not passionate about what they do or that they give up too easily.
Passion for whatever you choose to do is very important. It is fuel that keeps you going until you cross that 'elastic limit' threshold where it all becomes very easy. Therefore, you must be passionate about the goal you have in mind.
On a final note, some people like to ask the question:
"How long will it take?". I feel that question is for losers looking for a reason to back out or for shortcuts.
They lack that passion and dedication needed to walk the walk and that's why they want to be given a particular time when they can expect to relax and quit.
Truth is: Who's willing is willing. If you've truly made up your mind to succeed in anything and you have the strong drive for it, you'd be willing to walk the walk repeatedly for as long as it takes to attain the goal you have in mind.
This can be applied to achieve success in any area of life ranging from your career, relationships, lifestyle, habits, character and much more.
Till next time,
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