100% - I did!

Elbert Hubbard, a very successful man, described a successful person as one who tries, not cries; who works, not dodges; who shoulders responsibilities, not evades them; who gets under the burden instead of standing off, looking on, and giving advice. Charles Kingsley said: "The men whom I have seen succeed best in life have always been cheerful and hopeful men, who went about their business with a smile on their faces, and took the changes and chances of this mortal life like men, facing rough and smooth alike as it came."

The following is a ladder of success:

0%-I won't;
   10%-I can't;
      20%-I don't know how;
         30%-I wish I could;
            40%-What is it?;
               50%-I think I might;
                  60%-I might;
                     70%-I think I can;
                        80%-I can;
                           90%-I will;
                              100%-I did.

Someone commented that success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Together that gives us the 100% of "I did." We moan that we have no talent and opportunities when it is perseverance and concentration we need.

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best" (Henry Van Dyke). The birds don't worry about which of them sings best, either; they just do what is natural for them. Instead of worrying about others' talents, let us thank God for our own and get on with using them, for what we don't use, we soon lose.