Most of you know the popular fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. The tortoise challenged the hare to a race that by all odds, the tortoise had no chance of winning. When the starting gun fired, the hare began with a sprint… the tortoise with a slow shuffle. Everyone watching this contest knew the hare would win by a mile.

once the tortoise became a small dot in the hare’s rear-view mirror, he thought to himself… “That turtle is so far behind I’m gonna stop running and chill for a while.” The tortoise, on the other hand, kept putting one foot ahead of the other.

We all know the outcome of the race. The tortoise won the gold medal. Not because he possessed more talent or passion than the hare. He prevailed because he was consistent.

Consistency… perseverance… steadfastness. Sexy words these are not. (Is Yoda writing this?) You won’t find many books on Amazon with these words in the title. I’ve never seen a leadership conference promoted using these ideas. These three words don’t appear in the top-ten-marketing-words list. But consistently doing the right things every day… especially when you don’t feel like doing them… is what leads to greatness and success over time.

The hare had more running talent than the tortoise yet he still lost. We all know people who have incredible gifts but don’t succeed. Talent isn’t the issue… perseverance is their Achilles heel. Talent and passion are key ingredients of achieving… but without consistency, they won’t get us across the finish line. We’ll come up short every time.

What are you putting off until tomorrow (or next week) that you should be working on today? Saddle up partner… and start moving right now. Put in the time. If the amount of work seems overwhelming… break it up into bite-size pieces and then execute. Completing smaller steps motivates you to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Refuse to get distracted by how fast other people are running… or how far ahead of you they appear to be. Stay focused… get started… be consistent… and you’ll win your race.