You know the moment, the runner breaks the ribbon, the athlete standing on the podium, the owner selling the business for buckets of cash, the person setting up at the beach that no one can take their eyes off of. The event. That moment when success is noticed. Here is the interesting consideration, it is the process behind the event that really matters, not the event itself. I remember in one of MJ DeMarco’s book he talked about the generation of kids raised with praise over how awesome and wonderful they are because of the event. Too often kids find themselves faking it, cheating it, putting it on a credit card just so they can keep up the facade. It was fake to begin with, the event was magnified beyond what it was. They never were really smart, or really fast, or really good, they were just told that they were.
When that athlete mounts the podium, they are not amazing because of the event, they are amazing because of the process that it took to get there. I learned this all to well growing up trying to play chess. Sure I was smart enough to figure out the game, smart enough to remember the rules, but when it came down to it the only thing that would every get me to the point where I could beat other players was if I followed the process of practice, practice, practice. This child prodigy concept is just a giant farce. Behind every instant phenom is either a giant fabrication, or countless hours of determined hard work and commitment. There is no shortcut to success, there never has been and never will be.
So I have no event today to post on my facebook, or instagram, or name the app. I could take a picture of the nice view of the sun coming over the horizon this morning on my run and post it and make everyone think that I was an awesome, healthy, and in shape runner. Reality is that I was a little sick to my stomach, barely got to 10 miles today and felt more lethargic then ever before. I could take a picture of the nice meal that I prepared, balanced and perfect but reality is that I totally screwed up dinner last night. I never got it served and my wife had to bail me out to go buy enchiladas instead. I could post many things, borrow the money and buy many things to continue the illusion that I am awesome at being awesome, but the cold hard fact is that following the process of self improvement is just a lot of non-glamorous hard work.
We just are mesmerized by the thing that signifies success, but never what it actually took to get there. Consequently, we are looking for shortcuts, quick tips, seminars, videos, and even pills to try to earn a fast way to that moment of success. Sorry, hate to tell you this but out of shape is out of shape, fat is fat, ugly is ugly, poor is poor, apathy is apathy, envy is envy. You just cannot get around the fact that to be good at something, you (and I mean you) and no one else have to just gut through the tough part. Once you do, then you will know the real meaning behind the event.
Guy Reams
