Success is 99% inspiration and 1% perspiration.That's the lesson one might take away from the announcement that President Obama has been given the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, just 9 months after taking office. Even some of his most ardent supporters are calling the honor "premature."
I don't begrudge the President his award...but in the humbling moment when the news was delivered to him, I hope that his first thought was, "Man, I hope can accomplish enough to really deserve this."
Despite the best efforts of those around us to provide encouragement and affirmation, the "secret" of real success, lasting success, the kind of success that leaves a legacy instead of a track record, is that there's no "secret." Under every day circumstances, awards come from effort and accomplishment not hope and potential, no matter how great the possibility those last two words might hold.
It helps if you're talented or smart or handsome or funny or strong or even lucky, but in the end success can only truly be quantified in the amount of effort it took you to get there.
