I discovered the secret to success when I was in 2nd grade.

This is a true story, and it is why I know I will be a successful IMer.

I grew up in a basketball family, my brothers, and extended family played basketball ALL of the time, and they were VERY good. So when I was in 1st grade I obviously wanted to be good at basketball too. Problem was... I was in 1st grade and my family were into their teens or early twenties. In fact I was bad even for a 1st grader. I was always picked last on basketball teams on the playground at school. Then summer before 2nd grade rolled around and want to know what I did?

I STARTING WORKING EVERYDAY TO MAKE A CHANGE IN MY LIFE!!!

I honestly spent at least 2-3 hours every single day playing playing basketball that summer. It took a while to develop any skill at all, but after a month there was some noticeable improvement. After two months I wasn't terrible anymore, and after three months I was good enough to actually learn from my older brothers. I remember on the first day of school in 2nd grade I challenged the best kid in school to basketball and everybody laughed at me. They remembered the 1st grader Andy who couldn't even come close to getting the ball in the hoop. Granted I beat him and remained a good basketball player for as long as my interest held.

The lesson here is that SMALL THINGS APPLIED OVER TIME WILL EVENTUALLY LEAD TO RESULTS! Time after time I see people wanting to know how to make X amount of money in Y amount of days. Without really learning the ropes or putting in any effort. Or I see people work very hard at a workout regiment only to putter out after a week and a half. Whatever it is that you want to do, if you want to improve you need to take the time and put in the effort to learn whatever it is you need to learn. No it won't be easy but it will be worth it. If most people spent the amount of effort they spent looking for shortcuts on simply doing some consistent and productive action they would be much better off.

So for all of you who are looking for short cuts... Stop it.

For all of you who are still grinding it out, getting up after every fall. Keep your head up and keep going.

-Andy