The Tortoise and Hare

Think of that nursery rhyme "The Tortoise and Hare." The slow tortoise who races fast, over-confident hare. The hare jumps out to a big lead then decides to take a nap during race. He falls asleep and tortoise wins. The End.

Well, imagine you're tortoise and you're racing hare. Now imagine two personality types:

Failure-Evader

Before race even begins you're debating your existence. "Why am I trying, there's no way I'll win! I'll just be laughing stock of all my tortoise friends!" you might ask yourself.

So you might decide to crawl into your shell and avoid race all together. "Let's just pretend nothing happened. There is no such race!" you might try to falsely convince yourself. I mean, at least you didn't fail, right? Albeit, you didn't even try in first place.

Success-Seeker

Before race begins, you're psyching yourself up. You're excited, maybe a little nervous, but you're ready to show world that you're ready. In fact, you've probably already done your research on hare, competition, racing conditions and environment itself. You were preparing for success.

During race you may realize that things aren't going as planned and you might be a few hundred metres behind. You start thinking: "I'm not giving up just yet, so how can I set myself for success?" You might look to your left and notice a special "tortoise-only" shortcut path or perhaps you notice some really fancy tortoise roller blades, (in fact they're jet fueled roller blades). Or just like nursery rhyme, you find complacent hare taking a nap and you end up winning race. Success-Seekers are able to make plans but adjust them when necessary. They're contingency planners and problem-solvers.

Risks + Challenges + Failures = Success

Are you more likely to crawl into your shell and give up instantly? At least you didn't fail (albeit you didn't try). Or are you more likely to find some other way to race? You might just find your competition complacent and end up winning race. That's what Success-Seeking is all about.

"You miss 100% of shots that you don’t take." --Wayne Gretzky

I think Gretzky was up to something. You can't succeed by avoiding failure. You can only succeed by embracing risks, challenges, and failures. At some point, one of your risks will pan out and you'll find yourself in first place! When you make it, you can pride yourself in being a Success-Seeker, and not just a Failure-Evader.

Oh and by way, there's a happy ending to our nursery rhyme. The Success-Seeking tortoise beat sleeping hare. The End.

Are you a Success-Seeker or a Failure-Evader? You decide.

Take Your First Steps Immediately

Start now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. Take first leap immediately to begin your project. Whether that project be formidable task of losing weight, starting a business, or simply meeting with friends that you haven't seen in a while. Take action now. Begin exercising and eating less now or set an appointment with your Doctor to discuss a weight loss plan. Do research for your new business or commit to a daily log of business ideas for future ventures. Call your friends to set a time and date to meet. Whatever your ultimate goal is, take action while it's still fresh in your mind.

Once you get started on a task, it's harder and harder to drop it -- even if it's small baby steps! If you reach stumbling blocks, run through possible solutions immediately. If you can't figure out a reasonable solution, book time with someone who can help. Waiting days or weeks to resolve a technical issue doesn't provide you with momentum nor mindset to accomplish your goal.

It's much easier to stop than start up again. If you never come to a complete stop, you'll never quite lose momentum. You'll always be moving.

So question is, what have you done today to get closer to your goal? What are you doing now to begin, or restart a project that's close to your heart? Work out kinks as you go. Whatever you do, Start now!