There seems to be a need in our culture for instant gratification…

• Bullet points (see I am doing it)…
• Netflix on demand…
• Instant weight loss…
• Disneyworld FASTPASS…
• Immediate success…
• Miracle strength gains…
• Instant Messaging
• Amazing body transformations…
• Spectacular turnarounds.

The thing is, that doesn’t happen often in athletics or real life.  More often it is small, consistent, incremental growth that takes place.  But that growth over an extended period of time leads to BIG changes.

Seth Godin described it this way last week in his post, Gradually, then suddenly:

This is how companies die, how brands wither and, more cheerfully in the other direction, how careers are made.

Gradually, because every day opportunities are missed, little bits of value are lost, customers become unentranced. We don’t notice so much, because hey, there’s a profit. Profit covers many sins. Of course, one day, once the foundation is rotted and the support is gone, so is the profit. Suddenly, apparently quite suddenly, it all falls apart.

It didn’t happen suddenly, you just noticed it suddenly.

The flipside works the same way. Trust is earned, value is delivered, concepts are learned. Day by day we improve and build an asset, but none of it seems to be paying off. Until one day, quite suddenly, we become the ten-year overnight success.

This is the way it works, but we too often make the mistake of focusing on the ‘suddenly’ part. The media writes about suddenly, we notice suddenly, we talk about suddenly.

That doesn’t mean that gradually isn’t important. In fact, it’s the only part you can actually do something about.

We speak to our athletes all the time about consistency…

• Winning the small battles each day….
• Winning each day…
• Win enough days and you have won the week…
• Win enough weeks and the season is yours….
• Win enough seasons and a great career is possible.

Small battles… incremental growth… then “suddenly” you are a champion… “suddenly” you have a championship season… “suddenly” you have a championship program.

We know, of course, that it does not happen suddenly…. It happens gradually…. then suddenly.  The suddenly gets notices… the gradual is the reality of it… the daily grind.

Other posts that might interest you on this topic:

• Drip, Drip, Drip – a previous post of mine on the subject
• The Guaranteed Shortcut – a previous post of mine on the subject
• Incrementalism – Get Better Every Day – a post from Coach Grabowski

Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Follow @youcandomore1