Set Your Mind To It.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about setting your mind to something for the long run.

Sometimes I receive a fortune like today's and I struggle to accept what it says at face value. It says, "Nothing in the world is difficult if one sets his mind to it." Do you believe it to be true? I can tell you with absolute certainty that I've set my mind to many things in my life that were quite difficult. Just setting my mind to something did not automatically remove the difficulty I encountered, at least not at the beginning.

Over a year ago, I decided to teach myself to play the guitar. I can tell you, it is very difficult! I'm one of those people who cannot pat my head and rub my tummy in a clockwise circle at the same time. One side of my brain is clearly dominant because strumming the strings while independently moving my fingers on the frets seemed nearly impossible for me. Or is it? I did set my mind to it. I practiced every day, and eighteen months later, I am actually playing my electric guitar in a band. How did this happen?

Setting my mind to it did not immediately remove the difficulty on the first day, but rather, it was setting my mind to it over and over again, for a year and a half, that made the impossible become enjoyable. The same is true in my career, the writing of my first book, raising three kids, and even my marriage. I've set my mind to these things, and by constantly working at them on a daily basis, the difficulty disappears. So it truly is as today's fortune says, "Nothing in the world is difficult if one sets his mind to it," just maybe not all at once.