Success isn’t owned. It’s rented.

We humans are a funny group. Success comes to us after we’ve made a series of brilliant decisions, or after we’ve worked our tail off. But then we begin to feel like we’ll always be successful. Because of that, we slow down and we lose our edge.

Playing defense isn’t the way to win and it’s not the way to hold onto a lead. The moment you are too afraid to keep your killer instincts for fear of losing what you’ve gained, you’ve already lost.

Success yesterday is gone. It does not count toward success today. Every day it starts again. Rent is due every day.

A rolling train is hard to stop

Show up day after day. Even if you don’t see the point today, still show up. A habit repeated day after day is the train rolling. If you stick with it, you’ll go far.

When that train comes to a stop, it can be just as hard to get rolling again. So don’t stop moving forward.

Think about it, talk about it, write about it

If you want to remember it you absolutely must do one of three things: Think about it, talk about it, or write about it.

This reminds me that I need to do much more writing.

We all want the microwave quote that encapsulates everything perfectly. The internet gives us an abundance of clever sayings and perfectly assembled packages of words. They tickle our fancy for a moment and are gone the next.

It’s better to remember one good thing than to forget a thousand useful things.

Think about it, talk about it, or write about it.

Do the fun stuff first

I have only made the mistake of reading a book on diet one time in my life. That book, however, stated that you should eat the food you like most first because if you can get filled up on the stuff you like, you won’t stuff yourself later when you’ve only got the good stuff left on your plate. I had been a long-suffering eater of bad food first because I wanted to get it out of the way. This simple idea opened my eyes.

Then I applied it to work. I start my day of work doing tasks I want to do. Then I do the important tasks. Then I do anything else I have the energy to finish.

Boring stuff gets pushed or delegated. Don’t drain all of your energy on the stuff you hate. Do the stuff you love and you’ll have the energy for more productive days.