So: you have a goal? Good. You’re trying to achieve something? Great. You’re motivated? Excellent. But if you aren’t willing to put in the time, persistence, and practice, you’ll never get somewhere worth going. It might seem like you’re making progress. You might achieve some intermediary success. But eventually your shortcuts will catch up with you. You will wind up somewhere you never intended.
I once had a teammate who was unbelievably talented. He was incredibly athletic. He was virtually undefeated in everything he tried. But he never learned how to put in the effort. He never had to. He just showed up and did awesome. It sounds like a blessing. But it turned out to be a curse.
When he got to the next level, he was still athletic. But so were a lot of other people. He was still talented. But so were a lot of other people. He was still good. But so were a lot of other people. He couldn’t just show up and do awesome. He couldn’t just show up and win.
If he had doubled down on his talents and practiced with persistence, he could have been a star. But he didn’t. He took shortcuts – showing up late, dogging in practice, not listening to coaches, taking all sorts of supplements. He figured he could make up for his lack of effort with quick fixes, flashy athleticism, and sheer skill.
For a while it worked. But he didn’t count on other people being willing to put in the extra effort. They quickly caught up to him, and he lost his starting spot. He had no way of adjusting because he had never had to work very hard. He had been good at being good at things – not at getting better at things.
Being good at things isn’t a place worth going. Getting better at things is the real gold standard. If you know how to improve, you can always build upon the current version of yourself. You can be better today than you were yesterday. You can be even better tomorrow, and the day after that. You can go towards being the best version of yourself. And if that’s not a place worth going, I don’t know what is.
I once had a teammate who was unbelievably talented. He was incredibly athletic. He was virtually undefeated in everything he tried. But he never learned how to put in the effort. He never had to. He just showed up and did awesome. It sounds like a blessing. But it turned out to be a curse.
When he got to the next level, he was still athletic. But so were a lot of other people. He was still talented. But so were a lot of other people. He was still good. But so were a lot of other people. He couldn’t just show up and do awesome. He couldn’t just show up and win.
If he had doubled down on his talents and practiced with persistence, he could have been a star. But he didn’t. He took shortcuts – showing up late, dogging in practice, not listening to coaches, taking all sorts of supplements. He figured he could make up for his lack of effort with quick fixes, flashy athleticism, and sheer skill.
For a while it worked. But he didn’t count on other people being willing to put in the extra effort. They quickly caught up to him, and he lost his starting spot. He had no way of adjusting because he had never had to work very hard. He had been good at being good at things – not at getting better at things.
Being good at things isn’t a place worth going. Getting better at things is the real gold standard. If you know how to improve, you can always build upon the current version of yourself. You can be better today than you were yesterday. You can be even better tomorrow, and the day after that. You can go towards being the best version of yourself. And if that’s not a place worth going, I don’t know what is.