Jim Dickens

Life Is Hard By the Yard, But By the Inch Life's a Cinch



Posted: Sunday, May 06, 2007

by
Action Creates Success

Life is hard by the yard, but by the inch life's a cinch.

Wolfgang Mieder

Do you believe that you can move a mountain? No? Why not?

Can you lift a shovel with dirt on it? No? Can you lift a spade with dirt on it? No? Can you lift a teaspoon with dirt on it? No? Can you persuade someone else to lift a shovel, a spade, or a teaspoon? No? I don't believe you! Of course, you can!

An honest person must give a "yes" answer to one of the questions after the mountain question. When that mountain has been dissected or dynamited into shovelfuls, it is no longer a question of if you can move it. Rather, it is a question of where to put it!

What an overwhelming task it is to buy a $15,000 car -- if you are a 10 year old child. It becomes a matter of well-known steps for that child's father at the age of 30. You save $50 a week or $200 a month for a year to get a down payment of $2500. You offer that to the dealer and accept his offer of a 4 year loan with payments of approximately $250 a month. So the $15,000 mountain is broken into 60 shovels of $200 each.

The yard that Wieder refers to is the ultimate goal that is being sought. The inch is the steps to take to get to that goal. There are examples after examples after examples of this principle every where you look. The principle is consistent and simple. Take your unachievable goal and break it in to smaller, achievable pieces. Accomplish each small piece and soon the large goal will be reached.

One of the synonyms for this activity is planning. It is an effective antidote for being overwhelmed. It is a cure for inability. It is a means to whatever end you want.

Jim Dickens has been programming and accumulating expertise in software and hardware since 1979.  During that time, he has been as confused as anyone about some of the technical jargon.  Persistence and the desire to eat regularly have enabled him to learn enough to explain some of that geekspeak in www.laptopsforhumans.com.

In the late 1980s, Jim started studying self-help literature to branch out and to hone his business and personal success skills.  He has applied the translation skills that he uses for computers to that self-help literature in www.actioncreatessuccess.com.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by JL
from US 4 years 276 days ago.
Good article. It is a lot less overwhelming to look at life, as well as purchases, in the context of shovelfuls.
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