If you're new around these parts, I just want to say how much I appreciate your dropping by! Oh, and you may want to subscribe to my feed. Thanks, and a tip o' the hat to ya!

Back when I was just a young whippersnapper (about 10 or so), my parents bought a piece of property in what we call the Pineywoods area of East Texas, about 10 miles east of Livingston. It was a heavily wooded, steeply-sloped lot that fronted on a small, spring-fed lake, and for many years we would camp there on weekends.

Naturally, one of my favorite features was the lake (for some strange reason I’ve always been drawn to water). To my young eyes it was HUGE, but of course it was only a small lake (perhaps the size of five or six football fields), formed when an earthen dam was built to allow the abundant natural springs to fill it up.

But who cared? It was our lake, and that made it just perfect. Surrounded by tall pine and oak forests, it was incredibly quiet and serene (if you sat perfectly still, you could almost hear your hair grow); a wonderful place for contemplation.

And then there were the ducks.

Now, ducks are, by my standards at least, rather hilarious creatures. “Our” ducks were mostly mallards, which are really quite colorful birds (click on the photo for a larger view), and when milling around our feet they constantly made these little funny noises that sounded something like a whispered “muack”. They were smart, too - it didn’t take these guys long at all to train my sister and me to bring them food!

Occasionally, when we went down to the shoreline, the ducks were nowhere to be seen. But we quickly discovered you could call them by shouting out, “Heeere duck, duck, duck, duck, duck!” (I know what you’re thinking, and sure, it was stupid – but it worked!) We would hear an immediate answering quack-quack-quack off in the distance and pretty soon, like little miniature motorboats, here came the convoy, swimming towards us as fast as they could. It was hilarious.

One thing about ducks I noticed right away. On land, they are… well, no point in insulting the defenseless little darlings, so let’s just say they are “less than graceful” and leave it at that. Even in the air, they’re not the most beautiful of flying creatures. Ah, but on water – well! Graceful isn’t too strong a word.

These guys were moving at practically top speed, and yet there was hardly a ripple! How did they do that? I mean, I know how they did it – their little legs and paddle feet were pumping away under the water where you couldn’t see them – but above the water line, it was simply beautiful watching them effortlessly move in their element. Amazing!

So… I’m getting inspired here. You know the feeling, don’t you? That golden moment when a Deep Thought hits you, and you’re about to say something so profound, so important, so Full Of Capitalized Words, so… plaque-worthy? Are you ready? OK here it comes:

Yep, you read it right: Success is like… a duck. OK, so maybe you won’t be seeing that on a plaque anytime soon. I know, I know… it sounds silly, but let’s think about it for a bit.

When you look at successful people, what do you see? Hey, good answer! What you see is actually only the visible part of their lives; the “above the waterline” stuff. But mostly unseen are the “behind the scenes” stuff; the hard work, never-ending details, and yes, the blood, sweat and tears (yuck!). Ah, but those are the unglamorous things that translate into success.

“All right, Smart Guy”, you’re probably saying to yourself, “then what’s the secret to success?” (Well, first of all, thanks for the complement! Second, you really should see someone about this talking to yourself thing.)

Actually, something Thomas Jefferson said comes to mind (from Great Quotes #11): “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work the more I have of it.”

In fact, it’s no secret! To be successful, you have to be (drumroll please!) productive.

To help you with that, Ben Yoskovitz is busy building the Ultimate Guide to Productivity in a group writing project over at Instigator Blog, and it’s something you might want to check out. Perhaps you even have some valuable input to contribute. He wants to hear about any techniques, tools and tips you use to keep yourself productive, and plans to compile them all in an e-book once he reaches 100 links (don’t worry, you still have time).

So (and for this you have to use your best “Dirty Harry” voice), the question you have to ask yourself is, do YOU feel, uh, “pro-DUCK-tive”. (Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Er, sorry – couldn’t resist.)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!