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I am long on ideas, but short on time. I expect to live to be only about a hundred.
-- Thomas Alva Edison
 

 

Friday, June 21, 1996

Addicted to success

Addiction can work against you, or it can work for you. It just depends on what you’re addicted to. When you get yourself addicted to success, you’ll want more. You’ll do whatever it takes to get it.

Look at how many people are addicted to cigarette smoking. It is a smelly, disgusting habit. It’s expensive, unhealthy and alienates other people. Yet millions continue to do it. They are unwilling to stop themselves. Why? Because it makes them feel good. Or how about heroin? This addiction is on the rise again. Using herion requires involvement in an underground culture. It is expensive, it involves sticking a needle into one’s own body, and it consumes and destroys life. Yet more and more people are doing it. Why?

Because it feels good.

Success can feel good, too. It can feel very good. And unlike tobacco or heroin, the “high” from success and accomplishment doesn’t fade in a matter of hours.

Once you’ve had a small success, then it becomes easier to get addicted to success. The “high” of accomplishment makes you want more. That’s why it is important to set some small, quickly attainable goals. When these goals are reached, you “feel good” and you look for ways to do it again. That’s how most addictions start out -- small. Each time you experience success, savor it. Enjoy it. This is vitally important, because the more you “feel good", the more addicted you’ll be.

Get yourself addicted to success, and you can’t help but succeed. Start small, and really savor each accomplishment. You’ll be “hooked” in no time. Because it feels so good, you won’t want to stop.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©1996 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.