The-Slight-Edge
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ChAPTER 10<br />
invest in Yourself<br />
No stream rises higher than its source. Whatever<br />
man might build could never express or reflect more<br />
than he was. He could record neither more nor less<br />
than he had learned of life when the buildings were<br />
built ... His philosophy, true or false, is there.<br />
— Frank Lloyd Wright<br />
<strong>The</strong> greatest gift you could ever give yourself is also the wisest business<br />
investment you could ever make. It is also the most critical step in accomplishing<br />
any challenging task, and is the one step without which all other success strategies,<br />
no matter how brilliant or time-tested, are doomed to fail.<br />
What is this mysterious gift? It is your own personal development. Investing<br />
in your own improvement, your own personal growth and betterment, is all these<br />
things and more.<br />
Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will<br />
spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” In other words, he would spend<br />
twice as much time working on himself as on the task itself.<br />
What do most people do? <strong>The</strong>y grab the axe, dull or not, and start whaling<br />
away at the tree. And if they aren’t making a major dent in that tree pretty soon,<br />
they quit—and probably mutter something about how it’s the tree’s fault!<br />
How you swing the axe, how hard, in what arc and with what rhythm on<br />
exactly what spot you hit the tree—all these are strategies that concern your<br />
actions, and they can all be measured, weighed, and improved ... but it starts<br />
with the axe itself. And the axe is you.
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