Aesop’s fable about the Tortoise and the Hare is something like this:
‘There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.
Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, “How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?”
Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, “There is plenty of time to relax.”
Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.
The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare.
Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. The tortoise was over the line.
After that, Hare always reminded himself, “Don’t brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!”’.
The moral of this story is ambiguous and has been interpreted differently throughout the history as in many of Aesop’s fables. I thought I’d make up my own since that case.
The Hare Mindset
Most of the people need to live like the Hare. They are bragging and boasting and challenging random turtles to sprint races in the way that not necessarily. But they won’t happen things so fast.
Here is a great example for it, just think about the contemporary obsession with immediate results and instant gratification we’re being sold every day. Our society is full of promises of getting rich quick, lotteries that’ll make you an overnight millionaire, fat diets and training programs that’ll transform your appearance in weeks or days.
Everything around us happens so fast such as fast food, one-hour glasses, thirty-minute photo processing, overnight mail, microwaved food, instant hot water, and emails and text messages delivered anywhere in the world on a seconds notice.
If you want to change something you have to work on it for a long time, the truth is that lasting change doesn’t happen overnight. So, we have to change our approach.
The Tortoise Mindset
Most of the time, the results we’re looking for will rarely come quickly. They just take a little bit longer than we’re comfortable going for and they won’t take than long.
- One hour exercise three times a week for a month will show very little if any, results.
- Reading one book in January won’t make much of an impact on your personal growth.
- Meditating 10 minutes a day for a couple of weeks won’t show much of an effect on your mind.
You can decide to drop the quick-fix mentality of the Hare and adopt the mindset of Tortoise. You also can focus on just taking the next tiny step in the right direction instead of obsessing over and getting discouraged by the short-term results.
“Failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day” and that “success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day,” said Jim Rohn.
If you want to have best results within a year, you can follow these principles:
- If you exercise for one hour three times a week, you would have 150+ hours of exercise under your belt. This will make a huge impact on your health and appearance.
- If you read one book a month, you would have read 12 books. You’ll have tons of new insights, ideas, and concepts to enrich your life.
- If you meditate 10 minutes a day, you would have 60+ hours of meditation experience. This will help you to have improved focus, creativity, compassion, memory, less stress and anxiety.
With your consistency you can make all the difference:
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
How Slow & Steady Wins the Race
They’ll start showing up the results when you shift your focus from the results you want. As the side effects of the person you’re becoming, the results will inevitably show up when you start relentlessly take the next tiny step.
Here is my suggestion:
When you’re consistent, that creates momentum. That momentum creates progress. The progress creates self-confidence. The self-confidence starts shaping a new, more resourceful and empowering identity. This new identity will create the lasting change in your life.
Just take your goals and chop them up into small daily minimum quotas. Next, start obsessing about executing on them every single day.
Footnotes
source used : www.selfication.com
About the Author: My name is Patrik and I’m a mental trainer and writer. I’m on a mission to unlock human potential.