Only you cannot just stand aside for long, because the
penalty for inaction is oblivion-"nature's curse," as Goethe
put it.
So we learn from nature's own law of evolution
that we must either make progress or make way for those
who do.
And we find that this also has been the obser-
vation of the great thinkers throughout history.
Now let's make it personal. What has been your
own appraisal of the people you know who have been
successful? Haven't these successful people always stood
for progress? Haven't they always had a "progressive
image"? Certain words always have been associated with
success. "Progress" is one of them. So if you want to
attract attention, get promoted, get elected, get ahead...
then get a reputation for making progress!
How do you start making progress? There's a
saying in the Navy that a Captain who waited until his
ship was perfectly ready to go 10 sea, would never leave
the dock. Progress is not perfection. Progress is moving
forward. You don't have to be perfect. You do have to
progress!
The path of progress consists of stepstones
built of ideas, one after the other, leading always forward
toward a distant horizon beyond which we cannot see-
except the bright glow of a destiny worthy of our trip.
But suppose one of your stepstones is insecure
-and you fall! You won't be the first to have fallen on
the path of progress. Only the failures didn't get up. And
the successes always fell forward... so when they got