“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile in life are first, hard work, second stick-to-itiveness, and third, common sense” – Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931), Inventor
Many people will read Edison’s words above, and readily claim they understand the quote. In fact, some will even recite those words in a bid to teach or mentor others.
However, my experiences and observations of hundred of people – in different societies – over 2 decades in and out of paid employment, convince me that VERY few people actually APPLY the wisdom of Edison’s quoted words in their daily lives.
How do I know?
I know because I am a student of human behavior, with regard to personal success achievement.
One thing that remains of never ending interest to me is why people SEE the truth about what they need to do to succeed, and yet continue doing things that are bound to deny them the success they claim to seek.
Look around at those you know, who have told you the valued goals they want to achieve in life.
Study them carefully, in terms of their daily actions and habits.
How many of them are applying anything close to the 3 simple rules spelt out by Edison in his quote?
If my experiences are anything to go by, you will not need more than a few days to a week to come to a reasonably accurate conclusion about any individual you choose to scrutinize in the manner I propose here.
Now, having seen others for who they are, in terms of their demonstrated commitment to personal success achievement, HOW DO YOU assess or rate yourself in terms of your adherence to EACH of Edison’s 3 rules?
Like I said at the start of this piece, I have noticed that a large majority of people in society are guilty of NOT adhering to those simple rules. Even those who have read the rules or at least heard about them.
People who have read the amazing stories about Edison’s achievements as an inventor despite what should have been the limitation of ONLY 3 months of elementary schooling!
These people, who often possess superior academic qualifications compared to what Edison had, still fail to follow the simple rules he shared as the secret for personal success achievement!
The above explains why today people who achieve exceptional success are in the tiny minority across the world, while those who live average, ordinary lives, unworthy of special mention are in the large majority.
The question to ask then is: what group do YOU want to belong to?
One could argue that there’s nothing wrong with being average. However, being average equates to being mediocre, because in EACH of us exists the potential to be EXCEPTIONAL.
EXCEPTIONAL people are those who take action towards, and ultimately achieve outcomes that the “average” majority do not – resulting in the former being the object of admiration (sometimes envy) bythe latter!
That is how the Creator made every single one of us: To be like Him. And He is exceptional…like no other. We can therefore NOT be anything less, if we are to truly glorify him through our presence on this planet.
The truth is that we cannot actualize our God-given potential by sleeping in worship houses, praying round the clock, without going out into the real world to ACT along the lines we have prayed to Him about.
No matter how religious you are, no matter how many affirmations you recite, YOU cannot become exceptional, if you fail to TAKE PERSONAL ACTION to get what you want
You MUST take action to get what you say you want. And you must do so with diligent persistence, making intelligent modifications to your efforts as you continue.
This is where some of the average majority, who fail to fulfill their God-given potentials (despite being religious) are missing the point.
I recommend you start today taking personal action to achieve your goals, by adhering to Edison’s 3 rules as follows:
a. work hard (in my case I work hard to create passive income generating assets once and reap the rewards forever e.g. my Ration Formulator software, my Feed Formulation Handbook, my Audio DVD on Passive Income Generation etc)
b. stick-to-it (i.e. persevere till you make it),
c. common sense (make intelligent changes to a. and b. as/when needed)
If you do, it will ONLY be a matter of time before your EXCEPTIONAL achievements cause others to recognize and celebrate YOU!