Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast.

Today's reading was edited and adapted from The Mastery of Destiny by James Allen, published in 1909.

Thoroughness consists in doing little things as though they were the greatest things in the world.

That the little things of life are of primary importance is a truth not generally understood.

And the thought that the little things can be neglected and thrown aside

is at the root of that lack of thoroughness, which is so common and results in imperfect work and unhappy lives.

When you understand that the great things of the world, end of life, consists of a combination of small things,

and that without this aggregation of small things

the great things would be non-existent, then you begin to pay careful attention to those

things which you formerly regarded as insignificant.

You thus acquire the quality of thoroughness and become a person of usefulness and influence.

For the possession or non-possession of this one quality may mean all the difference between a life of peace and power and one of misery and weakness.

Every employer knows how comparatively rare this quality is, how difficult it is to find

people who will put thought and energy into their work, and do it completely and satisfactorily. Bad workmanship abounds.

Skill and excellence are acquired by few.

Thoughtlessness, carelessness, and laziness are such common vices

that it shouldn't appear strange that in spite of social reform, the ranks of the unemployed

continue to swell. For those who skirt their work today will another day, in an hour

of deep necessity, look and ask for work in vain.

The law of the survival of the fittest is not based on cruelty. It is based on justice.

It is one aspect of that divine equity which everywhere prevails. The thoughtless and lazy

cannot take precedence of, or stand equally with, the thoughtful and industrious.

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