When Dave Ramsey delivered the keynote at our annual convention earlier this year, he shared five ideas from his new book EntreLeadership on running a successful company. Funny enough, the ONE big lesson we focused in on is something we’ve all heard before: “Slow and steady matters.”
Dave was reintroduced to this key message during an interview with an unnamed billionaire on reading habits. “Millionaires, on average, read one business book a month,” Dave said. “So naturally, I wanted to know what billionaires do.”
To his surprise, they read children’s books.
“When I asked him to recommend a business title, I was not prepared for his response: ‘Aesop’s Fable: The Tortoise and the Hare,’ he said. ‘Every time I read it, the tortoise wins. Slow and steady continues to win the race.’”
This lesson – though first learned at an early age – is often lost on us by the time we’re aiming our trajectory for the next best thing. You see, today we want instant everything. But, as Dave reminded us, when it comes to business, “the companies that live long and prosper are not microwaves; they’re crockpots.”
In other words, it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. And, as Gary points out in The ONE Thing, success is sequential. It’s about lining up a domino fall, then whacking away at ONE domino – your most important thing – at a time to reach your end goal.
How will you win your race?