Genius

David Ogilvy summed it up perfectly when he said, "Genius is the art of taking pains." And it all starts in your grey matter. You first have to make the mental commitment to do whatever it takes to achieve excellence at any given endeavour. If your commitment is unconditional, the second step is to materialize your thoughts (by taking action).

It goes without saying that this isn't an easy process. If it were, everyone would do it. Which is why your mental commitment must be unconditional.

Whenever I'm tempted to avoid the extra steps that could make the difference between mediocre and superb, I find it enormously helpful to remind myself how much more value the world places on just one extra hit per week.

There is, indeed, a fine line between success and failure - a much finer line than most people suspect. If you're going to err, my suggestion is that you err on the side of excellence. The trade off of investing more time and energy in everything I do always seems like a bargain to me.