Obsession

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success"


 I know this works, it is how I was able to ever get an "A" in school, it is how was able to have any success athletically, and it is how I was able to have success with the firm.  It is also what has made me successful at times as a coach, only to have that success lessoned as my obsession was diverted.  Interestingly enough this is also what has made my relationships flourish early and dwindle over time.


Obsession is what this quote is really describing.  Obsession is what makes CEOs successful, it is also what causes them to have heart attacks, lose their families, or just simply be detached.  Obsession brings great wealth, and power, and yes, huge amounts of success but, for the very few, the infinitely small percentage of people that obsession helps in this way, there are millions upon millions that get chewed up and spit out by this very same approach.


When you have one thing that is yours, and yours alone, that can be a great and wonderful thing, it can also be your undoing.  For me over the years it has been both.  When it has been good it has been really good, when it has been bad I have wanted to die.  That is the nature of giving everything you have to one thing and one thing only.  It is easy for me to see how the approach in this quote can make for great success, but understanding that a microscopic distance away from such huge success is epic failure.


Thank you again for getting this far with me.