“A successful life is composed of the many small decisions where a choice is made between greatness and cutting corners, between valor and what is easy.”
This is one of my favorite statements. It emerged as I was writing my book Success for Life. As I saw again and again questions about how to have a successful life, it was clear to me that the path to real success was lost in most people’s minds.
Today, it appears to me that so many people think success is lots of money or perhaps fame, notoriety. You don’t have to watch too many reality TV shows to understand that the lust for fame has ensnared so many people.
Neither fame nor money are evidence of success. As my quote says, real evidence shows up that you are living a successful life when you know NOT to cut corners. It appears when you choose not to do what is merely easy, but the thing that often takes courage to do. I would even add that being able to merely SEE the choice before you, to see that there is a trap suggesting that you cut a corner…that ability is evidence that you do are living a successful life.
There is, though, one other factor that this quote alludes to. This creation of a successful life does not merely appear in one instance. You don’t win a scratch off ticket and BOOM, have a successful life of valor, honor and wisdom. Instead, this is created over time, dealing with “the many small decisions.”
Once upon a time, when we were an agrarian society, almost everyone except the very young understood that most good things took time. You did not just zip into a store and buy ready-to-eat food. There were no microwaves that could cook food in seconds. So everything, from lunch that day to a successful life, took time, especially to do well.
As we head into another school season when for college students there is a new (or renewed) focus on a life plan, now is the time to realize that if you want to end up with true Success for Life, you have to appreciate the small steps.
Put in the work now, daily, small steps, in the moments when no one else is watching, when there is no spotlight for you to enjoy—just doing the work, doing it right and doing it well.
In those “many small decisions,” you are moving resolutely towards a life of success. It won’t be easy, but you can do it!