Many different authors talk about the 'process', in that
what they're really talking about in simple terms is what it is you need to do
to be successful at whatever you decide your craft or goal is.
And this is the part that most people don't get. Almost every
overnight success story, has been in the making for years or decades. For most
of us, when we get a breakthrough or reach a milestone, people around you will
keep mentioning how lucky you are and stuff always seems to work out for you.
Eric Thomas, Zach Even-Esh, Scott Ginsberg and Seth Godin
(some of my mentors) had been doing their craft for way over a decade before
they got their breakthrough, before they got known and before they made
themselves remarkable, but still in the eyes of most they got lucky and were
given an opportunity and got to do the best out of it.
Not something I usually do, but let me share something
personal here. I've been doing my craft since I was 14 years old (Security).
It's not just what I do, it's part of who I am. It's my identity. And whenever
I give another step forward in my career (and I'm not done yet, still have much
to accomplish), I get the well intended comments that everything always works
out for me. And you know what ? It does. And it does, because I trust the
process and I walk the walk. I say my goal out loud once, then I shut up and
grind.
I wake up every morning just after 5am to study before going
in to work, every year I'm either studying for my degree or doing security
certifications. I use my commute time to either read or listen to audio books,
and I only listen to books that will develop me with subjects from leadership,
influencing people, being present, management, achieving goals, emotional
intelligence. By the time I get in the office, I have over 3 hours of learning
EVERY SINGLE DAY. I'm relentless and obsessed with improvement, and I never
feel I know too much. Always learning, always growing, always someone out there
that can teach me things, and I strive on being better everyday.
This is the process, Rafael. This is what you must trust if
you are to be successful. You wake up every morning knowing who you are, what
you want and what you need to do to achieve it and you go and do it. You go
spend the hours, you go put in the effort because you believe in your goal and
your craft and why you're doing it or who you're doing it for. It's not pretty,
many times tiring and you feel like giving up, especially when times go by and
you don't feel like you're making progress, but you keep getting to your spot
every day and you grind. You fall in love with it, you fall in love with the
hardships and the improvement, you fall in love with the sense of achievement
from walking the walk and knowing that one day an opportunity will come your
way and you'll be ready, because you spent your waking life preparing for it,
and whenever your circumstances change and you can't follow your routine, you
make adjustments and not excuses.
Men don't rise to occasions. They fall to the level of their
preparation.
