No athlete achieves success overnight.
As an athlete you went through years of development, training and playing or performing before you started to see big results. Success takes time.
Often the tough times and hard work are forgotten when things start to take off but there is no escaping the science of exponential growth.
The exponential curve is best understood by thinking of something that doubles every unit of time. Say one cent or penny is doubled ever day. The next day you would have 2 cents, then 4 cents, then by day 7 you would have $1.28, by the following week you would have $163.84.
Can you believe that by the end of 27 days you would have $1,342,177.28
Notice the momentum that takes off the further you go along, producing the J-curve effect.
When starting a new career post-sport, it can take time for momentum to build. That’s why it helps to be prepared –
* Be prepared to wait AND
* Be prepared to start setting the foundation while one is still active in sport.
It’s best to start the initial phase of the curve while you are still enjoying the success of sport. When you eventually retire from sport, you will be further along in the development of your second career and can continue to build on that success.
This slow initial growth can cause many to quit, as they fail to see tangible results.
It can sometimes feel like you are treading water or the wheels are spinning and you may wonder what are you doing wrong.
In fact, you might not be doing anything wrong other than just being impatient. Allow results to happen and they will. Review your strategy and your results to see if you need to change anything. If the only problem is that the results are not quick enough or big enough, then simply keep going.
Trust that the timing is perfect as it is, and any idea that it is slow is really in your own mind.
As athletes we like to see immediate rewards, but we also know that if we stick to it, and keep moving forward that the rewards will come.
Learning new skills and getting support and guidance from experts and mentors will save you time and energy shortening the timespan. However, you will still have your own learning curve to go through to reach success in a new venture; there will still be a time when it seems like things are just not happening fast enough.
As you did in sport, it is important to embrace the process, not just the end goal.
Love what you do on a daily basis, including the learning and training that will help you grow and improve. If you do, it won’t feel like work, and any success that comes along the way is a bonus.
I love Rupert Murdoch’s quote: “I know I will be successful, it’s just a matter of when.” It demonstrates trust that things are going to happen
Decide what you want to make happen, make adjustments along the way and stick to it. You’ll see your results grow exponentially.
Please share your experiences of sticking to a goal and overcoming the obstacle of time.
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