Getting beyond ‘the splat’

The story is told of a traveller who met a leadership expert along the road and asked him, ‘Where’s the road to success?’ The expert didn’t speak but instead pointed to a place off in the far distance. The man, thrilled at the prospect of quick and easy success, rushed off in the direction indicated. Splat! Down he went! He limped back, bruised and stunned. Assuming he must have misinterpreted the message, he repeated his question, and again the expert pointed silently in the same direction. So the traveller took off once more. This time the splat was deafening. Crawling back bloodied, broken and angry, he shouted at the expert, ‘I asked you which way is success! I followed the direction you indicated, and all I got was splattered! No more pointing—talk!’

Finally the expert opened his mouth and spoke. ‘Success is that way. It’s just a little beyond the splat.’

The fact is, all of us have experienced ‘the splat’. There’s no way to avoid it. But it’s what we do after the splat that makes all the difference. And perseverance always wins. The Bible says: ‘Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’

Champion racer Rick Mears is attributed with saying: ‘To finish first, you must first finish.’ So if you’ve fallen, get up again and keep going. American educator Hamilton Holt said: ‘Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Half effort does not produce half results. It produces no results. Work, continuous work and hard work, is the only way to accomplish results that last.’

So the word for today is—keep persevering and you’ll win.