The common denominator of success

Here’s a speech delivered in 1940 by Albert E. N. Gray, an official of the Prudential Insurance Company of America.

The entire thing is worth a read – it’s a fairly short speech – but the parts about “doing things when you don’t want to do them” especially resonated with me:

The common denominator of success – secret of success of every individual who has ever been successful – lies in the fact that he or she formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.

[…] success is something which is achieved by the minority of people, and is therefore unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes nor by being guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.

What are the things you don’t want to do today?

Chances are, your competitors don’t want to do those things either. So if you can knuckle down and get them done, you’ll have them beat for today at least 💪