Here’s a personal question for you to ponder during your lazy days of summer. Do you want to be suddenly successful?

Hold your thoughts, first read the rest.

With the economy stuttering, it is only natural for many of us to worry about our finances because, as Ernest Hemingway wrote in his book ‘The Sun Also Rises’, we go broke ‘gradually, and then suddenly.’

Yes, our finances gradually get worse until... bang.

That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news. The opposite is equally true. How do you become successful? Gradually, then suddenly.

Many successful people will tell you that they struggled for quite some time before they became successful. And many will even admit that they often came close to giving up. But of course they did not. They carried on and got better at it. That’s exactly what the famous golfer Gary Player meant when he said, ‘the more I practice, the luckier I get.’

You see, to be suddenly successful you must practice success gradually and consistently.

By the way, the same happens to organizations: they go broke gradually and then suddenly. And they also become successful gradually, then suddenly.

I am pleased to say that I have worked with senior executives who obviously know that for their organization to be suddenly successful, they must take time to practice success gradually and consistently.

Sadly, I have also worked with the other type. These executives are pretty good when times are good, but at the slightest sign of financial trouble, they immediately practice going broke.

How do I know that? Because they focus on cutting costs, even at the expense of growing their sales.

Gradually, their costs come down, and suddenly, so does their business.

OK. Back to that personal question. Do you want to be suddenly successful? Sure, who doesn’t. But how?

To be suddenly successful, you must practice success gradually and consistently. Yes, I know, I’ve said that more than once already. The real question is... what should you practice?

Here’s what I suggest. What are you likely to practice consistently? That which you love doing. Doing what you love is easy to do and easy to practice. It’s the other stuff that’s not.

Doing what you want to do is ‘living’. Doing what you feel you must do, is ‘surviving’.

There’s little satisfaction in living if it is based on doing the must-do stuff without ever getting to the want-to stuff. The only good reason to do some of that must-do stuff now is if it will help you get to the want-to stuff next.

And yet, get to the want-to stuff you must, because if you do what you love doing, again and again, you will be rewarded by being suddenly successful.

Now get out there and practice being successful. These lazy days of summer won’t last for ever.

►OPT IN HERE (if you want to receive this nonsense)

►OPT OUT HERE (if you would rather not receive this nonsense)

Privacy Promise: Would I share your email address with others?  Of course not! I want my email to be the only nonsense you get.

© 2008 James Henry McIntosh - All rights reserved