The Woodpecker Syndrome

I am often asked what's the secret to success? to being an entrepreneur? to getting a goal? to pursuing a dream?

Well, I've come to answer all of these questions with the same answer. Be a woodpecker! Yes, a bird!

Here's how I see it. Woodpeckers are one of the smallest birds and yet they take on Giant Trees without really having any doubt that they have the capacity, strength, determination to make those trees fall.

Here's what happens. The tiny bird gets up and goes to its tree—its goal, dream, business—daily. And it pecks away. Yes, at the end of the day, I can assure you, its beak hurts. Some days it wonders if it took on too big of a tree—goal. The other birds and animals look at the woodpecker and kind of think it's crazy.

And yet, on certain days—and the woodpecker never knows which ones—the big tree falls. Just because of one more small peck—action.

Does the woodpecker celebrate? I am sure it does. And then it picks another tree and does what it feels it must do all over again.

I often think of myself as a fellow woodpecker. I've picked some big trees. My beak hurts. Other people think I'm crazy. And yet, trees do fall, dreams have come true.

So, pick a tree—a dream—and simply stick to it. Start pecking away. Be immune to what other people say. And remember, your tree can fall at any time.