The old adage, “inch by inch anything is a cinch,” still rings true today. As much as we dislike it most success comes in small pieces. Seldom do we experience “overnight success.” Most get rich quick schemes are nothing more than scams designed by con artists to get our money.
These schemes would never be successful if people weren’t always trying to achieve great success instantly. Our society is caught up with instant gratification. If we can’t have something right now, we don’t want it. This desire for instant gratification is one of the major causes of debt in our world today.
There actually is no such thing as an overnight success. People who have head this label attached to them many times worked for years developing their skills and talents.
Tom Lehman who has become perhaps one of the top golfers in the world is one such person. Although his rise to stardom on the PGA tour seems to have come fast, Tom actually struggled for years on the seemingly endless trail of mini-tour events worldwide. His success today is the result of years of lessons, practice, and patience.
One-man who was called and overnight success said, “I might be and overnight success, but it sure was the longest night I’ve ever known!”
Perhaps you have heard it said that, “the longest journey begins with a single step.” Regardless of what you are desiring to accomplish, if you don’t get started you’ll never get where you’re going.
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, started with one store in Batesville Arkansas. After years of artwork and his refusal to adhere to the advice of his detractors, he developed a network of stores that cover the majority of the United States. His vision, hard work, and patience, eventually caused them to become the wealthiest man in America. This success came incrementally, one store at a time.
The children of Israel were told that they were to drive out the inhabitants of the promises land little by little, lest it be overrun with wild beasts. In God’s scheme of things victory is experiences a little at a time. Jesus said in John 8:32 “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Notice he didn’t say it would make you free, which would denote an instant and complete freedom. Rather He said “it will make you free,” which denotes an ongoing, day by day freedom. In other words freedom comes in increments.
The following principles will help to guide you to success over the long haul:
1. Clear-cut vision
Know exactly where you’re going and what you intend to accomplish. Write it down. Having a written vision helps to motivate you and keep you on track. Your vision in life is what gives you purpose. Without purpose you just meander through life never really accomplishing anything more than taking up space.
2. Have a plan.
No coach would take his team out to play game without a game plan. No contractor would think about building a skyscraper without a set of blueprints. You see a step-by-step plan is essential to getting anything done. Some people think others that are successful are so because they are lucky. Denis Waitly defines luck as “Laboring Under Correct Knowledge.”
3. Get busy.
Once you have written your vision and developed a plan for attaining it, then you have to get busy. As the great NIKE ad says “Just Do It.” A vision and a plan are important, but they are worthless if you don’t put them into action. A lot of people are great dreamers but they are lousy doer’s.
4. Stay focused
To focus means to concentrate on the task at hand. It is to concentrate on the desired result. As a teenager I had the opportunity to work on a farm one summer with my grandmother and her husband. One day I helped plow the fields. I quickly learned that if you were going to plow a straight line you had to pick and object on the horizon and focus on it until you reached it. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted by other things. One major reason why people with good intentions never follow through is because they allow themselves to become distracted.
5. Practice patience.
Patience s not putting up with something but rather it is constancy. It is the ability to stay with a project until it is finished. It is not quitting in spite of the obstacles or adversity. The primary reason people quit is because they are not seeing the results they want to see. Remember success is incremental, it doesn’t happen overnight.
