Who Is Really Successful

The successful man is the average man, focused. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

So many people think that anyone who is successful is different in some way.

Better genetics, or up-bringing, or work ethic, or friends, or discipline, or education, or . . . .

It’s not true.

People who are successful work harder, longer.

True, there are certain variations, that, in certain fields, give people a slight advantage, but to be excellent – in any field – people must work very, very hard, for a long while.

But that only explains why Michael Jordan is a better basketball player than you – not why the person you work with got the promotion, instead of you.

*  *  *

The simple fact of the matter is that you could do more to be better.

You could learn more, practice more and give more to those around you.

When you do, wisely, you will be successful.

And if you do, you’ll be given the opportunity to do again and again, over and over, time after time.

Similar Posts

  • Honor Your Gifts

    “Every human has four endowments – self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.” – Stephen R. Covey Something that has been coming up for me a lot lately is the idea of honoring our gifts. What does it mean…

  • Learning vs. Improving

    Learning is not improving. Learning is critical and vital for achievement and success, but by itself it’s not enough Improving is taking what we’ve learned and putting into action. Improving is applying what we’ve learned to make things better – to make our lives better and the lives of those around us, and with any luck,…

  • The Actual Issue

    I am reading a great book by Ronald and Mary Hulnick, “Loyalty to Your Soul” and have to share something I read: “How we relate to an issue is the issue.” This is such a powerful idea. “Issues” are happening all the time. How we decide to interact with them makes all the difference. When we…

  • Do You Score?

    The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score. – Bill Copeland No, not that sort of “scoring!” I mean do you know when you’ve accomplished something important? Something of value, to you? Without goals, you won’t know.