Success Quote by E. Joseph Cossman

Focus shapes reality. When the aim is clear and compelling, the mind filters noise and notices routes forward; when attention drifts, problems swell to fill the field of view. E. Joseph Cossman, a self-made entrepreneur and popularizer of practical success advice, understood that attention is currency. He built his ventures by fixing on outcomes and letting that clarity organize effort, rather than letting every difficulty dictate what happened next.

The line is not a denial of difficulty. Obstacles exist, budgets shrink, people say no, and luck turns. The insight is about perception and priority. What we stare at grows. Fixate on hurdles and they compound into paralysis. Keep the goal vivid and the same hurdles reappear as tasks, constraints, or design specs to work within. Psychology backs this: selective attention narrows perception to what serves our current intention. Athletes learn to look where they want to go rather than at the hazard, because eyes lead hands and feet.

There is also a practical method embedded here. A well-defined goal supplies criteria for decision-making. It answers which opportunities deserve energy and which distractions can be ignored. It prompts better questions: instead of Why is this so hard? it becomes What is the next decisive step to move closer? That shift recruits creativity, because the brain starts searching for affordances rather than compiling a case for defeat.

There is a risk in the other direction: zealotry that refuses to see real constraints. The remedy is not to stare at obstacles, but to make them part of the map. Keep the destination in sight while scanning the road, adjusting speed, and choosing lanes. Periodic, honest reviews maintain alignment without losing momentum. Cossmans line points to disciplined attention, the habit of returning the gaze to what matters most, so that difficulties are noticed, sized correctly, and used as information rather than as reasons to stop.