Every individual human being is different from every other human being in many ways. We all have our own unique personalities, appearance, likes and dislikes, levels of intelligence and talents. Even our fingerprints are completely unique.

Yet in other ways we are, most of us, very much alike. Certain traits are human traits and they are shared almost universally.

For example, humans are all born with certain "survival instincts" that operate at the most basic level in our psyche. Basic drives such as fear, anger, love, desire, curiosity, adventure and pleasure are present in people from birth and across all races, social classes and geographic area.

It is the way those basic instincts are mixed in the individual that makes up the individual personality. Too much anger in the mix creates a person with violent tendencies. Too much fear produces a person who is afraid to take risks. Too much of the pleasure instinct can create personality traits that range from narcissism to addictions.

A THING CALLED THRESHOLD
 

Harry and Barry are frogs. Nothing particularly special about either of them. They spend their days hopping about on the lily pads and catching bugs and being...frogs.

One day an enterprising young man catches Harry and Barry, along with a few of their froggy friends, in his net, drops them into a burlap bag and sells them to a local seafood restaurant, a place famous for its delicious frog legs!

The chef carries the bag down the steep cellar stairs and drops it in the corner to await the evening rush of customers, hungry for frog legs.

Now, Harry and Barry are in a situation we would call, in the business world, challenging. They are in a bag, in a cellar, with 12 steep stair steps separating them from freedom and two hours separating them from a sizzling skillet.

NOT a great place to be.

Harry and Barry discuss the situation briefly. They examine the bag and determine that it is loosely tied and, with a bit of amphibian ingenuity, they manage to squeeze past the knot and out onto the cellar floor.

Now the only obstacle is those 12 steps. Each step is 12 inches high. Harry takes a long look, flexes his strong back legs and hops easily to the first step. He pauses, stretches, then hops to the second step. Then the third, fourth, fifth, and up he goes. In one minute flat Harry is sitting proudly in the open cellar door, gazing at the grassy field and the beautiful lake beyond.

In a few minutes Harry is swimming joyously in the warm water of the lake waiting to be joined by his froggy buddy, Barry.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE CELLAR...

Barry takes a long look, flexes his strong back legs and hops, bumping his nose into the ledge of first step. He flops, embarrassed, to the floor. Gathering all of his strength, he JUMPS again! and AGAIN he bumps his nose, harder this time. Ouch, that smarts.

Again and again Barry leaps, slams his nose into the ledge of the first step and falls clumsily to the floor.

Finally, exhausted, he crawls back into the damp bag to quietly await his doom.

SO WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOTAL SUCCESS AND TOTAL FAILURE?

About a quarter of an inch!

You see, Harry was not enormously superior to Barry in his jumping ability. The steps were 12 inches high. Harry could jump 12 inches and, one step at a time, he reached his goal. Barry could jump ALMOST as high as Harry. He could jump 11-3/4 inches.

But that quarter inch made all the difference.

Harry reached total freedom while Barry bumped his nose against the bottom step.