My Source Of Motivation

How many of you can name me the runner up in the 100 meters event, the 200 meters event and the 4 x 100 relay event, all of which Usain Bolt won or was part of the team that won?

I would think that 95% of you would not have been able to answer that question. So the first minor lesson in life is that nobody remembers the runner ups in life; We only remember the winner. And yet ironically the difference between the winner and the runner was in miniscule seconds as shown in the table below.

Event	Winner’s Time (secs)	Runner – Up’s time	Winner	Runner Up	Difference
100 meters	9.69	9.89	Usain Bolt	Richard Thompson (Trinidad and Tobago)	0.2
200 meters	19.30	19.96	Usain Bolt	Shawn Crawford (USA)	0.66
4 x 100 relay	37.10	38.06	Jamaica	Trinidad and Tobago	0.96
Average difference					0.6

Source : http://results. beijing2008. cn/WRM/ENG/ Schedule/ AT.shtml

If we take the 100 meters for example, we find that the difference between the winner and the runner up was only 0.2 and yet the rewards that will be reaped by Usain Bolt will be at least a hundred fold more than Richard Thompson. Using the above only as a metaphor, what does it tell us?

It tells us that in life ‘A small performance improvement can make a huge difference in terms of rewards.’ As W. Clement Stone, the author and master motivator said, “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference.” It means that if each and every one of us can improve by say 5% in our skills or behavior, then the rewards we will reap will be many, many fold. That improvement may make us the Usain Bolt in our department, our company, our industry etc. And the great thing is that there is no need for a quantum leap in terms of performance. Just a little at the right places!

So just go out there and make that little performance improvement. You certainly can!! Ultimately you will be glad that you did when the rewards start to rain down!!