You Are What You Repeatedly Do

How easy is it to become an alcoholic by drinking only once in your lifetime?

Many ambitious dreamers seem to be convinced that ONE is the magic number that will help them realize success and fulfillment in their lives. For instance, if you want to be a successful software company, all you need is ONE great app idea. Or that if you want to become to a successful manager/leader all you need is ONE opportunity to prove yourself.

This is not completely true.

What does ONE great opportunity give the person who isn’t ready to take full advantage of it?

Answer: Increased chances of failure.

Let’s say that you have always wanted to own and run a hotel. But you just don’t have the money to build one and hire staff. Let’s say you know absolutely nothing about operations in hotel management.

Let’s say that your generous billionaire uncle decides to lend all the money you need to build a hotel and hire the people you will need to help you run it.

Let’s say you take the money and begin straight away.

How successful will that hotel be, without you having to proactively learn the ins and outs of hotel management? Or attracting customers? Or dealing with competition?

Realistically, you will not be able to succeed without investing your time and effort in understanding how hotels work, right?.

And if you choose not to learn any of these things, the only way this hotel will succeed is if someone who you could fully trust ran it on your behalf. Because what would you understand about the numbers in the finance books, right?

Now consider this scenario.

Let’s say that in the beginning, you had a fairly good understanding of how hotels are run and managed. You have years of experience in marketing and leading people. Plus, you are very creative when it comes to problem-solving.

What if your uncle gave you the money then? What would be your chances of succeeding then?

This is where the phrase “Luck/Fortune favors the prepared” comes from.

We sometimes feel deserving of opportunities and successes that we are not always prepared to embrace.

The proof is in the way we seem to stumble after realizing that things are a lot harder and more different than we had initially imagined… AFTER taking advantage of the opportunity.

And yes, like in the example above, we can begin to learn on the job. To be honest, most of us learn this way anyway.

But at what cost?

Instead of taking all those years to improve your communication and leadership skills with friends, family, and strangers… you suddenly feel you can do a superb job if given that ONE opportunity to manage a staff of 20 people.

Even if you learned on the job if you don’t understand how people work and behave… if you are not empathetic or do not know how to meet the needs of individuals… you will have more people quitting on you, hating you before you finally understand what your role is all about.

Is that a reasonable price to pay?

Let’s not forget the amount of wasted time this will end up costing you… and the people you work with.

I’m not saying we should make sure we are perfect for the opportunities before daring to take advantage of them. But I am saying that we can certainly be a lot more prepared than we often are.

All this leads me to believe that success is not about that ONE action or that ONE opportunity you get to “shine”.

Success is the summation of a life lived with intention.

If you know what you really want in life… then proceed to align your thoughts and daily actions to it. Eventually, you will get it.

Why? Because you will be the most prepared for it.

Work on your leadership skills daily, and eventually, you will be realized.

Practice programming regularly, eventually, you will be realized.

Complain daily… and well… I guess you get the picture.

We are, what we repeatedly do.

Practice makes permanent.

Before you can expect the Sharks from Shark Tank to invest in you and your business… you must first become the business. And that means at least have more than just ONE sale.

Before you can receive a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, you must first know Tae Kwon Do. And that means you at least have gone through White, Yellow, Green… etc.

At least.

Don’t always have massive plans for riches. Because they are not always accurate… therefore, may not work.

If you have no idea how selling property and real estate works… from an experience point-of-view… how sure are you that you can come up with a massive plan that will actually work in making you rich… selling a property?

If it was that easy, wouldn’t everyone be doing it?

You have no idea the number of people unfamiliar with game development and the gaming industry in general who are ready to give me advice on how to become successful at selling games.

Between them and the many successful game developers publishing articles and books on how to succeed in the industry… who’s advice do you think would help me best?

Do not take advice from a person you wouldn’t be willing to trade places with.

Take small significant steps towards the life you want.

Don’t think about an EVENT or TIME in the future when you will become a success.

Think only about your daily way of life.

If someone observed you for just a week… what would they be able to tell about you and what you will eventually accomplish?

That’s a question I ask myself a lot.

I have published 48 blog posts in the Self-Development category so far.

It is this that makes me a blogger. And it is this that brings me closer to becoming a great blogger.

But if hadn’t written even one post, how closer would I have been to become a great blogger?

Or was I to supposed to think about creating that ONE and ONLY ONE blog post that would rock the world?

David Beckham. Did he sit at home while his friends went to practice on their football? Did he ignore football his entire life till that moment at age 18… when he had this brilliant idea that if he were to kick the ball in a certain way, he would become a successful pro-footballer?

I hope you see where I’m going with this.

We take for granted, the opportunities we have to better ourselves every single day of our waking lives… and cling to an idea that all we need is a favorable break from life to realize our fullest potential.

We get that break… every single day.

Show the day, what you can accomplish in just 24 hours continually.

And maybe then you will realize why it is foolish to think that you can become a bodybuilder by going to the gym only ONE time.

Once a bodybuilder… always a bodybuilder.

Success is a journey, not a destination.

#makeProgressNotExcuses