Wednesday, August 14, 1996

Practice makes winners

We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act,
but a habit.
-- Aristotle

Small things, repeated over and over again, are vastly more powerful and influential than big things done just once.

One of my primary reasons for developing The Daily Motivator was the realization that success is most reliably achieved through consistent effort. You can go to workshops and seminars, and hear powerful, motivating speakers. These experiences can be very influential. Even more powerful, however, are the things you do on a daily basis to stay focused on excellence, accomplishment, possibilities and opportunities.

Truly successful people realize that meaningful, lasting success does not, can not come overnight. Great accomplishments are not one-time efforts, but rather the culmination of a long line of repeated efforts.

The gold-medal Olympic swimmer does not just show up at the competition and win the race. For years beforehand, she practices her start, her stroke, her turn, her breathing, fine-tuning each aspect to the nth degree. Often the race is won by mere hundredths of a second. Yet the effort needed to win that race is measured in years.

Success in any endeavor comes from consistent, determined, focused effort. The way to guarantee that you’ll be at the right place at the right time, is to be at the right place ALL the time. Stay focused every day on the habits of success.

— Ralph Marston

Creativity is a balancing act       To be a winner you must think like a winner

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.