Slow and Steady Still Wins the Race

• March 4th, 2008
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This is yet another very insightful article from Get Motivation.  It illustrates how to accelerate your abilities over time. This is a pretty good example of how I approach my Mary Kay business. I take in as much information as I can and apply it and see where it takes me. Enjoy the article:

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Column By Chris Widener

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Accelerate Your Abilities

In today’s fast-paced life, the wins usually go to those

with exceptional skills and abilities. The old quote is

true, “The race is not always won by the swift and the

strong, but that is the way to bet.”

With this in mind, and with your desire to become

increasingly successful, here are some ways to accelerate

your abilities, thus enabling you to achieve greater and

greater things.

Become dissatisfied with your current state. Growth for

growth’s sake is good. Those who will achieve much are those

who say to themselves, “I want to grow. I want to be better.

And I am willing to do what it takes to get there. This

current state is not enough!” This dissatisfaction will

create for you an insatiable drive to do what it takes to

get your abilities to the next level.

Visualize the benefits of increased abilities. Put them at

the forefront of your mind. This will saturate your mind

with the motivation that it will take for you to do what it

takes to increase your abilities. What good will come out of

my increased ability? How will I be better off as well as

the others around me? The answers to these questions act as

the carrot before the horse, moving you forward.

Understand your weaknesses. If you want to improve, one of

the best ways is to start with some area that you aren’t

particularly good at. This is the “shoring up method.”

Sometimes it is easier to improve something you aren’t good

at than something you are. And the gains will still look

great for your overall situation!

Take some time to consider what areas you are weakest in and

focus in on them for a while. The results will obviously be

much more pronounced than getting better at something you

have already somewhat mastered.

Attempt greater levels of what you are already good at.

Another tact to take would be to stretch yourself in an area

that you already have some skill and ability in. What areas

do you excel in?

Now understand that when you leave the weaker areas weak and

make extraordinary gains in one area, then you will be

moving more toward “specialist” rather than “generalist.”

That is okay, but needs to fit in with your overall goals.

Commit time each day to improvement. Steady improvement is

the way to go. In fact, you may not see improvement for days

or weeks. You may feel like you are failing each time. But

alas, eventually you will get it and your skill will

increase to the next level.

The key is day in, day out, spending time working on

improving. Even five minutes a day equals a half hour a

week, 2 hours a month. That adds up! Remember, Practice,

practice, practice.

Seek out and spend time with someone who has greater ability

than you. One of the best things to do to increase your

ability is hang out with people who are already more skilled

than you. Watching, them, studying them, interacting with

them, even competing with them will make you better.

As in sports, to improve, you play with people better than

you, not worse. They will raise you to a new level. Who

around you can you get involved with who will help you with

your ability?

Take a class or hire a coach. Go to school my friend. Take a

course at a local college or vocational institute. Take a

class online. Hire one of the many coaches available today.

Pick a specific skill you would like to improve upon and

find someone who is a specialist in that area. At the very

least, pick up some audio or videotapes to help you grow.

Be the tortoise, not the hare. Slow but sure. Take your

time, do it right. Keep going in the right direction. Learn

your craft correctly. Don’t give up quality for speed. The

whole idea of acceleration is this way: Slow start, work up

to high speeds, go the distance. Luckily life isn’t a sprint

but a marathon!

I hope these ideas help you as you commit to accelerating

your abilities!

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Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer as well as the

President of Made for Success, a company helping individuals

and organizations turn their potential into performance, and

succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their

dreams. You can learn more about Chris at

http://www.getmotivation.com/qk.cgi/chriswidener

Tags: Inspiration, Motivation, Success