Time and Effort

 the book “Be Excellent at Anything” by Tony Schwartz, the first thing that jumps in my face is the fact that the answer to being excellent is practically given to you immediately! What is it? Discipline! No one likes that word, especially people who lack it (myself being one of those). However, I have discovered that if you want something bad enough, discipline is almost automatic. And the more positive results you see, the more your discipline increases. Case in point, the book discusses research done on violinist at a prestigious school of music. The instructors divided thier students into three categories; those good enough for solo careers, those good enough for careers in a prestigious orchestra and thise good enough to be violin teachers. The students in each category had to document thier daily routine, including how much time was spent practicing alone. The results were amazing! The best violinist practiced alone for an average of 90 minutes per day (not all at once), with the majority of time being spent on practice in the mornings. They also got and average of 8.6 hours of sleep daily, not including naps throughout the day. But whats is most astounding, is the fact that almost all reported that practice was the most difficult thing they did. Uet intrinsically they knew that in order to be at the top of their game, they must put in the time to practice. 

This proves several of my points in my previous posts. 

Please feel free to leave your comments.  🙂

The Quest for Excellence

In my quest for self development and improvement, I have come to understand a few things. First, I realuze that whatever you surround yourself with, is what you will begin to emulate. Second, what you fill your mind with is what you will believe and think. Third, your thoughts are extremely powerful! Your reality is based on what you think. 

The most valuable lesson I have learned in my quest is, you must have a goal or goals to work towards. You must have something that drives you, a point on which you must focus.

The difference between dreams and reality is action. In your dreams you do nothing, you sleep. But those dreams can only become a reality if you do something to make them.materialize. So, the second most valuable lesson I have learned is that you must understand what is needed to make your goals a reality.  Once you have both your goals and your steps, you definitely need to write them down.  

The third most valuable lesson I have learned, is that you have to realize that making your dreams and goals a reality is NOT GOING TO BE EASY! In fact, it will be the MOST difficult thing you do, but you know that the reward is completely worth it! 

Which brings me to my next post…Time and Effort!