Website owner:  James Miller

How does one achieve important goals?

   How does one achieve important goals?  How does a person become 
   a success in a particular profession or craft? 

   How does one become a professional pianist?  He becomes one 
   through work and practice, a lot of work and a lot of practice 
   over many years.  He works an hour or more every day on it for 
   years.  It requires a lot of work, practice, persistence and 
   dedication.  You have to really want it and to be willing to 
   sacrifice for it to achieve it.  You have to invest a lot of 
   effort and time into it.  How does a professional baseball 
   player become one?  In the same way.  How does a lawyer become 
   a lawyer or a doctor become a doctor?  In the same way.  
   Through a lot of sacrifice, work and effort over a number of 
   years.  This is true of just about any worthwhile goal that one 
   sets for himself.  However, in another way, it is not as hard 
   as it looks.  You build a building a brick at a time and you 
   walk a thousand miles a step at a time.  The achievement is 
   great but each step is not a big thing.  It is really all a 
   thing of habit --- of changing the structure of your daily 
   routine in such a way that it includes an hour or more every 
   day devoted to working on this particular goal.  It becomes 
   simply a habit, a part of your life.  It requires seriousness, 
   self-discipline, self-sacrifice, determination and persistence 
   but, in a way, it is not that hard.  It is just a matter of 
   creating a daily habit for yourself, putting in the work, and 
   not quitting.  You have to have persistence.  It does require 
   character.

   So what is the secret to a child doing well in school?  The 
   secret lies in doing those things every day that he is supposed 
   to do and doing them well.  Again it is all a matter of habit.  
   Teach a child first the lesson of obedience and then you can 
   teach him anything else.  A child becomes successful by doing 
   each step he is asked to do and doing it well. 


   Nov 1996