Hi All!
I hope all is well. As always, here are your weekly tips & tricks, just in time for the weekend.
1. Success is the sum of repeating tiny efforts, day in and day out.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when working towards a goal. Not too long ago, I broke my ankle clean through the joint in a 400-meter sprinting race. About 100 meters from the finish line, I heard and felt my bone snap in half. Following a visit with a doctor, I was scheduled for surgery the next day. When pressed privately by my coach, the surgeon admitted: “Mike is never sprinting again.”
I have been a sprinter for a long time and didn’t take the diagnosis lightly. After the surgeons put a plate and five screws in my foot, I reached out to a friend whose athletic career ended because of an Achilles tendon rupture. I asked her how she dealt with recovery. Her advice was simple: “Take it one day at a time.” Despite the simplicity of our conversation, her message had a profound impact on me. As “one day at a time” became my motto, I began putting in tiny efforts every day. Four months later, I was running, and after five months, I was sprinting again. Success is the sum of repeating tiny efforts, day in and day out.
2. Big results aren’t achieved overnight. It usually takes years to make an overnight success.
Steve Jobs, CEO, and co-founder of Apple, said, “If you look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” In 1975, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak set up shop in Jobs’ parents’ garage after dropping out of college. To generate their $1350 starting capital, Jobs sold his Volkswagen microbus, and Wozniak sold his Hewlett-Packard calculator. Close to 30 years later, Apple had established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics and media sales industry. Even though they enjoyed success before their breakthrough, it took Apple a long time to become an overnight success.
Your Weekly Digest: Innate Talent
This week’s article on MikevanderPoel.com is titled, “Rise Above the Talent Myth and Success Will Follow.” It explains why natural talent is a myth and why everyone—regardless of natural aptitude or skill—needs to put in hard work to be successful. It is true that some people can learn faster than others, but even the most talented people on earth still need a great deal of practice.
Until next week,
Mike van der Poel
Previous: Stay on Track: Sacrifices, Priorities, and the Value of Time — Sept. 10, 2021
Time is the most valuable commodity you own. It is the only resource in the world that cannot be recovered or regained. Any amount of time that is expended …