Two neighbours, Donald and Mickey, were fishing in the mountain lakes, when they spotted a big grizzly bear, foraging for food nearby. No sooner had they seen it, the grizzly also seemed to notice them and with a mean look on its face the bear began to approach slowly. “Look at that bear,” said Donald, “I wonder if it means to eat us?” Mickey, who was somewhat of a know it all, replied, “Well, bears are carnivorous and they’ve been known to attack the odd fisherman or two and also people who startle them! They can run at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour over short distances, so there’s no way we can out run it. The only thing in our favour right now is that bears have very poor eyesight. So our best line of defence is to stay perfectly still and quiet and then hopefully, he will pass us by.” With that, Donald, who was highly motivated not to be eaten alive, opened his back pack, took out his running shoes and began putting them on. “What are you doing that for?” said Mickey, “I have told you there is no way you can outrun a bear!” Unperturbed, Donald continued doing up his trainers. Then, as he turned to make his escape, he answered, “The way I see it Mickey, I don’t have to outrun the bear. All I have to do is outrun you!”

And the moral of this little tale is simply this; don’t mope about waiting for things to get better by themselves, instead take action and do something about it now. Just do it!

R. Ian Seymour, excerpt from Maximise Your Potential