The-Slight-Edge

Mastering the Slight Edge 121
What most people call a “problem” is simply a gap, an open space between
point A and point B. And if you keep an open mind, it’s an open space you
can bridge.
Now, here is the reason I’ve spent time describing and explaining this gap:
That gap can work against you or it can work for you.
The gap between A and B cannot last forever. It has to resolve, and it will,
one way or the other. It’s a law of nature, and there’s nothing you can do to stop
it. But you do have a choice in how it resolves.
One way to resolve the tension is to move your point A (the way things
are today) steadily closer and closer to point B. Let yourself be drawn by the
magnet of your dreams, pulled along by the future. Remember what pulls those
who dwell in the failure curve? The past. And what pulls people who live on the
success curve? The future.
People who live with huge, vivid, clearly articulated dreams are pulled along
toward those dreams with such force, they become practically unstoppable.
What made people like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi or Mother Teresa,
Edison or IBM’s Thomas Watson, Wilberforce or Lincoln such forces of nature
that nothing could stand in their way, no matter what the odds or obstacles? It
was not some magic in their character, though they certainly became people of
unusual character along the way. It was the power of their dreams. The vision
each of these men and women held created a magnetic force against which no
opposition could stand.
Again, I’m using dramatic examples of famous people, but the exact same
thing occurs with people you and I have never heard of, everyday people who are
not at all famous, but simply have dreams they care about and keep alive every
day. That’s the force you can harness in the pursuit of your own dreams.
What about the other direction? I said there were two ways that tension can
resolve, and the other way is the one that works against you. If you don’t close the
gap by moving your present circumstance (A) constantly toward your goals and
dreams (B), how else can you let the tension resolve?
Quit dreaming.
Just let go of all your dreams, goals, ambitions and aspirations. Settle for
less. Make point B disappear, just delete it, and—poof!—the tension is gone. And
that, sadly, is the choice that the ninety-five percent who travel the failure curve
eventually make.