Imagine a brick, a brick on its own is not very exciting, stylish or useful, yet when thousands or millions of bricks are put together we have amazing buildings, churches, houses and hospitals etc.

You often hear pop stars and TV celebrities being called “an over-night success,” well the truth is that there is no such thing and I know many stars are deeply offended by being called “an over-night success.” Just because a star has recently come into the spotlight, doesn’t mean that they’ve just sprung out of nowhere, many TV stars had already spent many years working in theatre, TV commercials and small background parts before they landed their big part. This is a great example of the small successes leading to a big success.

Can you go the extra mile?

If you answer this question truthfully at the moment, the answer may be “No” however, with some time and coaching we can and we must change that answer to “Yes.”

If you look at life’s winners, whether they are a great business person, sports person or show business celebrity, one of their strongest attributes will be their ability to go the extra mile.

Imagine you are a salesman or an aspiring model looking to be discovered, you’ve been out all day knocking on doors without any success, it’s getting late, you’re tired, do you give up and go home or do you try those extra few doors?

Successful inventors are very good at going the extra mile. Many top inventors and scientists have died in the pursuit of perfection.

Many items that we use everyday that are best sellers were at one time or the other called “stupid,” “useless” or “it will never catch on.” Now imagine if that inventor had given up because he had been rejected. Do you know that many top selling bands like the Beatles and U2 were turned down by many big record labels? The Beatles were told that they were losers and would never last, well we all know what happened to them!

I’ve recently been researching explorers or more importantly failed explorations and I’ve noticed that almost without fail, as soon as one failed attempt is finished they are already planning their next attempt. These people do not give up do they?

When you go the extra mile and you will, you will stand out and shine. Today most people try to get by with the minimum amount of work or effort, that’s why when someone goes the extra mile, especially in the service industry, it really stands out.

Now just like an inventor you will come up against resistance from your so called friends, family and people you meet every day. They will think you are mad, stupid and they will advise you to give up and when things are not working out they will tell you those famous words “I told you it wouldn’t work.”

Please learn to ignore these people as they will destroy you. Stick to your guns and I guarantee that you will have the last laugh. A famous newspaper advert from the 1950’s had the headline “They all laughed when I sat at the piano, but when I started to play…”

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