Eliminate the Twin Killers of Success Part 1
By Dr. Ron Ross
Many worthy goals, promising relationships, and terrific business ideas are ruined by the Twin Killers of Success: speed and greed. This week the focus is on speed (impatience), next week on greed.
A cute little girl in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” wanted a golden goose and she did not want to wait for it. She danced with gusto and sang with furor, “I want it now!” Her song and attitude represents the thoughts and feelings of many people in our world today.
Speed is a big deal with most people. You wake up in the morning on the run. You watch sound-bite news while you eat your one-minute oatmeal, you check your E-mail with your high-speed Internet, you eat lunch at a fast food restaurant, you impulsively and relentlessly check your phone at any opportunity no matter how intrusive it may be. And you never stop, not even at home, not even in bed where you watch TV while you read a book, talk to your kids, and wonder about tomorrow’s schedule, all at the same time.
This high-speed lifestyle can be a problem because when a real personal crisis hits you – you want it solved NOW and it can’t be. Real solutions to serious problems take time and you don’t have any. You want everything NOW; not in ten minutes, not tomorrow, not next week, and for sure not next year.
You can’t wait that long. You have goals to reach, people to talk to, events to attend, mates to love, children to look after, parents to call, lawns to mow, meetings to go to, volunteer work to be done, and on and on and on.
I’m asking you to pause a moment and ask yourself this question: What does all this impatient high-speed living bring? Here are some likely answers: harsh words, high blood pressure, quarrels, sleeplessness, fear, and far too often, the suspension of logic.
Someone said, “Impatience cuts down a tree to reach the fruit.” Ever done that?
The consequences of impatience are anxiety, fear, discouragement, and ultimately failure. Over 400 years before Christ was born Herodotus said, “Haste in every business brings failures.”
Great things, on the other hand, take time. Important ventures, worthy goals, great achievements require toil, endurance, and courage. They must pass thorough many phases, transverse dark valleys, suffer serious setbacks, require renewed imagination, and call forth boldness.
If you are determined to wiggle out of your mud, if you are focused on a worthy goal and you do your utmost, and if you allow for the required time, you will certainly do it. So start now, but slow down. It is far better to walk to the cadence of the universe than run to the rhythm of rush hour. Important things take time.
Endnote: I can think of only two times when haste is good: when swatting flies and forgiving wrongs.
Next week I will discuss the second twin killer of success, greed.
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©Copyright 2016 Dr. Ronald D. Ross