There is a famous remark from Abraham Lincoln “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." That's to say, sharpening your knife won't waste your time for cutting your firewood.
If your axe is blunt, it will seriously affect the speed and efficiency of cutting trees. Even though sharpening the axe before chopping down a tree takes you sometime, the speed and efficiency of it will be improved a lot, and you will spend less time cutting down the same tree. Similarly, if we want to succeed, we'd better improve ourselves first. What should we do to achieve success? Many of us have set lofty goals, but we had better start by preparing to confront difficulties, and proceeding with the very foundation. Just stop talking and get down to working. With the exception of perseverance and diligence, it is extremely necessary for us to have some useful methods.
Just remember, haste makes waste. Good tools are prerequisite to the successful execution of a job. To gain success, we should choose the right methods, and make enough preparations, and then we are on the way to success.
