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Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
 

 

Saturday, May 1, 1999

One step at a time

It is often difficult to imagine yourself reaching a great achievement. You look at someone who has built a massive fortune, or created a magnificent work of art, or achieved a prominent leadership role, and you have trouble identifying with that person.

When you look at any great achievement, usually you can see only the end result. That’s because the splendor of such an achievement overshadows all the little details which went into creating it. Yet the real substance of achievement is in the day-to-day details.

The person who builds a highly successful business does it mostly by doing the kinds of things with which you’re already quite familiar -- talking on the phone, writing letters, paying the bills, buying new toner for the copying machine. The greatness in the achievement comes not from any supernatural skill or special advantage, but from persistence and commitment.

Great achievements are built day by day, step by step, by people just like you. Greatness comes from ordinary actions, focused on a specific objective, followed with steadfastness and resolve. Almost anything is possible when you are committed to pursuing it one step at a time.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©1999 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.