How many steps in a marathon? Depending on how long your running stride is, you could take anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 steps to run a marathon.
Marathons are an excellent metaphor for the awesome power of the “little and often” success strategy.
Why do we hate mosquitos? Because they can bite us “little and often”. In hot countries people have to sleep with mosquito nets. Just imagine the pain of waking up covered in mosquito bites!
The power of little and often is focus. It’s the same thing, little and often, that has the power. Yes, the power to make an impact, however you understand “impact.”
There’s nothing worse than having great energy, but splitting it up again and again. A whole rake of mediocre little things. Bit of this, bit if that, bit of the other. No focus. No perseverance. No personal growth. No success. No impact.
I love studying foreign languages. The problem is my lack of focus. Bit of Spanish, bit of Italian, bit of German, touch of French, a hint of Latin . . . even more! You get the picture.
Then when I’m confronted with having to speak that language with a foreigner, I mutter something like, “yes, well, I studied a few words, but I can’t really speak it.”
By the way, the oppositie extreme is also to be avoided. Not satisfied with knowing a basic 5,000 words, you are driven to learn a further 5,000 words.
Waste of precious time!
You’ll never use more than a few percent of the second 5,000 words. Maybe nice for the ego, but of little practical use. It is, of course, the old “diminishing returns” nightmare. Massive investment, near zero returns!
Five thousand words in Spanish and 5,000 words in German would be much more useful than 10,000 words in Spanish.
Where do you fit in? You may even be “small” but you can make an impact, by having a clear focus, and then keeping at it. Personal growth guaranteed!
Gerry McCann
@themerry_monk
Do you make an impact? Like to share a thought? Leave a comment below. Thank you.
I had to refocus my life on what made my heart sing and where I saw it making a difference. At one time, I was trying to do too many things and splitting myself into far too many directions. I’m a highly creative person, so creating comes easily – focusing comes much harder.
Many thanks, Don, for your very interesting comment. Life often seems a rush with so many monkeys on our back. At times we have to be a bit ruthless, and cut out some things that are less important for us. Very hard to do, because we are doing them precisely because we want to. Hard to reject some things and keep others. As you know, we need to focus on our priorities – even if it takes quite some time to decide what our priorities really are. All the best, and keep up the good work. Blessings to you and your loved ones.
Well said sir. Deep and wise words. Best regards
Very many thanks, Mourad, for your very kind and encouraging words. I hope that my words have been a help to you in some way. May God bless and keep you and your loved ones. Peace.
Encouraging Thank you 🙏🙏
Lovely post. I agree on the importance of being focused. The language example you’ve given is very relevant. I, for one, love languages and my bucket list has at least 7 languages I’d love to speak but for the sake of focusing I’ve decided to master the languages I already speak (even partially) instead of being “Jack of all languages, master of none”. It hurts, but it’s probably the better than stuttering a few words when you really need to talk in Spanish, or French, for example.
I’m not sure I agree about the extra 5K words. True, you probably won’t need to use most of the words. But if you want to speak accurately and to express yourself without compromise, the time may come when you need a specific word or term so knowing a few extra words could come in handy. Think of it like extra food supply you take for your trip…
Here’s for making a real impact!
No words to praise , really it gives me energy. M waiting fir more inspiration from u , sir
With regards