Outside my office window is a construction project. It’s been underway for about a year and a half. Every day the work begins at 7 AM. At about 6:45 the crane operators walk up the ladders. Crews below begin organizing and assessing the day’s work ahead.
They work every day. They begin at 7 AM. Every day.
It’s a sizable building 5 or 6 stories high. When the project began it was nothing but a vacant lot and machines used to drive pilings. Kuthunk, kuthunk, kuthunk. The sound of the pile drivers went on for months. Always beginning at 7 AM. Working every day.
The building has been slowly and steadily going up. They still have several months before the building is closed in, but progress is evident. Some days more progress is made than others. Some weeks it seems as though they have built an entire floor. Every day they begin at 7 AM.
It’s remarkable how a building of this size is built. Machinery, men, technology, equipment all come together in a choreograph that has been refined to maximize efficiency. And every day more evidence of their work. If I had traveled for the past year and a half, I may have thought on first sight, “Where did that building come from?”
But I didn’t travel. I was here every day. I see the result of consistent work and the compounding effect of small individual efforts brought together in a modern building.
You hear old sayings like, “You climb a mountain one step at a time.” and “You eat an elephant one bite at a time.” And yes, you build a building one nail at a time, one day at a time.
These sayings drive at the root of success: Consistency and perseverance are the path to success. In the case of this building: work began every day at 7AM.
Michael Phelps claims he swam every day for more than 5 years. Do you have that kind of commitment to achieve your dreams and aspirations?
Do something every day long enough and one day you will achieve your dream. What are your dreams and what sacrifices are you willing to make in order to achieve them?
