The Hare and The Tortoise
A Favorite From Aesop's Fables
The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other animals. "I have never yet been beaten," said he, "when I put forth my full speed. I challenge any one here to race with me."
The Tortoise quietly replied, "I accept your challenge."
"That is a good joke," said the Hare; "I could dance round you all the way."
"Keep your boasting till you've beaten," answered the Tortoise. "Shall we race?"
So a course was fixed and a start was made. The Hare darted almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his contempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap.
The Tortoise plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke from his nap, he saw the Tortoise just near the winning-post and could not run up in time to save the race.
Then said the Tortoise: "Plodding wins the race."
Moral of The Hare and The Tortoise: Perseverance is surer than swiftness.
This story has been told many times in many different ways, but the premise is always the same. Select your goal, focus on it, and steadily work toward achieving that goal.
If you race toward it, you will miss many important points along the way that could help you out. More importantly, you will have used up so much energy in trying to get done quickly, you will burn yourself out, or may believe the task is too difficult.
Instead of completing your goal, you'll turn away from it and quit. Follow the tortoise's motto... slow and steady wins the race.
This is also the Site Build It! motto. Learn the best way to create a profitable web site about a subject that you love.
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While the Hare and the Tortoise is about keeping your eye on the goal and steadily working toward it, The Wind and The Sun is a similar fable where steady gentle persuasion can usually win out over using brute force
Previous Tale: The Fox and the Stork
Next Tale: The Lion and The Mouse
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