Exercpt

At 211 degrees, water is hot.
At 212 degrees, it boils.

And with boiling water, comes steam.
And with steam, you can power a train.

One degree. Applying one extra degree of temperature to water means the difference between something that’s simply very hot and something that generates enough force to power a machine – a beautifully uncomplicated metaphor that ideally should feed everything we do.

Two-twelve serves as a forceful drill sergeant with its motivating and focused message while adhering to a scientific law – a natural law – reminding us how seemingly small things can sometimes make tremendous differences.

Secrets to success don’t exist. We instinctively know it. Success in anything has one fundamental aspect: effort. And in most cases, to achieve exponential results requires extra effort. That’s the extra degree.

Thomas Edison said…

“Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Vince Lombardi tightened it up with…

“Inches make the champion.”

212 distills it even further.

From 2000-2006, The PGA Championship winner took home an average of $1,060,714. The second-place finisher averaged $460,657… less. The margin of difference, 1.71 strokes… less than a stroke a day.

At NASCAR’s Daytona 500 from 1997-2006 (10 years), the winner took the checkered flag by an average margin of 0.175 seconds… less than two-tenths of a second. For the winner it meant $509,000… more.

How often do we miss an opportunity to create better results because we don’t apply a small amount of effort beyond what we normally do?

Consider the impact of making an extra contact each day at work… a sales call… a customer follow-up… a brief discussion with a colleague… an encouraging talk with a member of your team. With contact comes opportunity.

At the end of a year you’ll have opened more than 200 additional doors of possibility. On the personal side, imagine the exponentially positive results of investing an additional 15 minutes of quality time each day with your children or spouse – an equivalent of more than two weeks each year at work.

No longer will you be able to do only what is required of you, only what is expected of you. Because with awareness comes responsibility – to yourself and others.

And you are now aware.

The excitement has begun. Are you smiling yet?

Your new target is 212.

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