Last week we discussed the fourth key to success, Ask Questions; and this week we will complete our review of the keys to success as we talk about the fifth and final key to success,
Don’t Quit.
Let’s open this topic with one of my favorite quotes of all time, from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Bac by Master Yoda
“Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.”
The essence and meaning behind this falls in line with today’s topic, Don’t Quit.
The only requirement for success is that you don’t quit, regardless of how insurmountable the odds, much like Luke Skywalker trying to learn how to use the force to levitate an X-wing out of the swamp.
No one gets anything accomplished by quitting.
This always reminds me of a story from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich:
A man had gold fever, so he staked his claim and started digging. After a lot of hard work, he found a vein of ore, so he covered up his find and returned home to raise the money for the machinery that he would need to bring the ore to the surface.
He raised the money and travelled back to the site to make a fortune.
Things started well and before long, he had enough to clear his debts. They were excited, everything from here on would be profit and things were looking good.
Then the supply of gold stopped. The vein of ore had disappeared.
They kept on digging, but found nothing.
After a while, they quit in frustration and sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars.
After they went home in disappointment, the astute junk man called in a mining engineer who checked the mine and calculated that there was a vein of gold just three feet from where the previous crew stopped digging.
There are several lessons to learn from this story:
- You have to persevere through difficulties and challenges to be successful
- And, experts can help you solve problems
When you are faced with difficulties and challenges, it is on you to evaluate the situation and change course to reach your desired destination.
Making adjustments is the only way you will get where you want to go and no one is going to do it for you.
When a space shuttle travels to the moon it is on course less than 5% of the time; it requires constant flight path modifications, known as course corrections, and with a constant process of evaluating the current path, checking the instruments, consulting with the experts in Houston for help and making course corrections, the shuttle will make it to its final destination.
So, whenever you feel like giving up, when you are surrounded by difficulties and challenges and you don’t know what to do, remember that you may be just three feet from gold!
Reflect upon the Five Keys to Success, consider how to apply these tips to your life and how they might help you go to the next level and achieve your own astounding, audacious, ridiculous goal.
