“Anyone who does what he must only when he is in the mood or when it’s convenient isn’t going to be successful.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 82). Center Street. Kindle Edition.

In this section of his book, John quotes the very successful musical composer, John Williams who states, “I developed from very early on a habit of writing something every day, good or bad. There are good days, and there are less good days, but I do a certain amount of pages it seems to me before I can feel like the day has been completely served.” And he has been very successful because of his commitment to being consistent.

So many times we wait for the mood. We say, “I have to be in the mood to write, I have to be inspired.” But it seems we hardly are ever in the mood or inspired so we don’t write. I like that he has made a commitment to compose each day no matter the outcome.

I have made a commitment to write this blog five days a week and I have written 355 posts since I started. Some have been good, some not so good. Some have had a lot of readers some not so many. The key to me is, I have made a commitment to write five days a week and I have kept at it.

Malcolm Gladwell in his fantastic book Outliers has a 10,000-Hour Rule. He covers many examples from the Beatles to Bill Gates and argues that the biggest part of their success is not innate talent or blind luck but rather dedication to their chosen craft.

What area do you want to really be good at? There must be a commitment to keep at it consistently no matter what. There are others things that are involved but this goes a long way to becoming successful.

Remember, nothing just happens. There is going to be some work attached to it. So keep at it no matter whether you’re in the mood or it’s convenient.

So what is it you want to accomplish?

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