Shame on me. I know it’s been far too long since I’ve posted here.

My excuse, is that what you want to hear? Okay, it’s not that exciting though … I’ve been extremely busy.

Between client projects and helping a new venture get off the ground I’ve been neck deep in a swamp of work.

A always I’m making time to enjoy with family and friends – no email, no computer – but granted it’s less than optimal. I’ve also had less time to read. However, I’d like to share something with you from one book I’m just about to finish – Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success.

This is a fascinating book. And what I’d like to share with you comes on page 246. Gladwell has just finished telling a story about a girl that spends 22 minutes trying to successfully complete a match question. And how most people give up after only a short while.

He then writes “Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds.”

That’s it, that’s what I wanted to share with you. It sounds simple enough, plain, maybe even boring. But the power of those words is immense.

If you’re working towards achieving success in a new venture, marketing project, personal goal – whatever it may be, this is the key to success. It’s right there in those words.

Be prepared to work your ass off … go beyond where others stop and if you’re determined enough – as long as you have access to the right information and are going about things in an effective manner – you’ll reach success.

There are too many people out there, and I’ve been guilty of this too in the past, that work hard to achieve a monumental goal but fail simply because they don’t give it their all.

If you truly want success, march on. Be prepared for tough times. You’ll have lots of uphill climbing too do. That’s why it’s so important to be passionate about your journey – because if you’re not it’s that much harder to get through the tough times.

Push forward, climb up one mountain after the other – and at some point you’ll leave all the others behind – and then my friend, you’ll reach the top of the mountain they call success.