To Accomplish More, Build Confidence and Assume Success Will Yield to Effort

We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.

--Helen Keller

Helen Keller's quote means more when you consider that she was born deaf and blind and went on to become one of the great educators in American history. If she can overcome that difficult beginning, certainly we can do whatever we need to accomplish . . . as long as we persevere.

While some might have seen the normal process of starting up a project as challenging as the 400 Year Project (to make improvements 20 times faster than previously in all aspects of human activity) discouraging, Carol Coles and I felt like youngsters learning to crawl and toddle. You unexpectedly flop down and fall over a lot, but it's still exciting to be able to move around on your own.

We tended to measure our progress by the distance from where we had started to where we were at the moment, rather than from where we were to where others thought we could or should be. You've all seen a madly grinning toddler shrieking with glee while racing off with two parents trailing behind. We felt that joy. We listened to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony a lot to help keep us in that mood.

More importantly, we could tell that the obstacles were falling back before our efforts. Feeling an obstacle start to give way isn't the same as removing the obstacle, but once you know you can move it a little, it's only a matter of time before the obstacle will be irrelevant.

As we flexed our obstacle-removing muscles, our confidence grew. Although we didn't yet see the path to the end of the project, we could always see the next step or two. Believing that the path to the objective existed, even if we couldn't see it, was all the confidence we needed to keep plowing ahead wherever we could make progress.

What are the lessons for you?

1. Believe you can succeed, even if you don't have a clue about what to do first.

2. Let your curiosity lead you to try lots of experiments until some of them pay off.

3. Plan to work toward your goal for as long as it takes, assuming that you are going for something worth making that kind of investment.

4. Find daily reasons to remember, rejoice, and celebrate how far you've come.

5. Keep a modest attitude about how important your efforts while being optimistic about what others can do to help you.

6. Enjoy the process of moving ahead . . . even more than meeting your goal.