The Phases of Success.
Success is a perplexing topic, on one hand, we have people who succeed easily and on the other hand, you have people who take forever to achieve a simple goal. I have always been fascinated by this, so I decided to look back and analyse success and successful people I know on a personal basis, here is what I found.
Success consists of different phases, in most cases, there are four phases:
- The grind.
- The failuire phase.
- The momentum building phase.
- Success.
1. The Grind.
This is the beginning, where you have no skill or expertise, the only option you have is to work hard, hence the name. This phase started for me at the age of twelve when I started playing sports, this was boring since this phase was mainly doing drills and working on basic bodyweight exercises such as doing squats or pushups.
When I look back, seventy-five per cent of the activities felt difficult, twenty-five per cent was easy, the best part of this stage, that made it easy was that I had multiple coaches and people that were willing to help me.
If you are currently in this phase, I would recommend getting a coach, mentor or someone that is better than you to help you understand where you are going wrong and what you are doing right.
Secondly, stay consistent, do not take days off during this phase, when you are new to an activity, you can learn a skill and forget it twice as quickly, showing up every day is vital if you want access to a coach and also to get better at what you do at a quick rate.
Thirdly, keep a journal. During this juncture, I remember keeping a journal but not being consistent with it, since I am playing sports which is a practical activity, I did not have to journal a lot during this phase, but if you are doing a theoretical activity, a journal will help you immensely.
2. The Failuire Phase.
Newsflash:
This part sucks.
Everyone will go through this. Failures are the building blocks of success, this happened to me when I was thirteen and had a very bad season, I was not making an impact in the league and time was moving slowly, I hated every match but looking back if it was not for that difficult phase, I probably would not find my sport as easy as I do today.
If you are going through this step, I would recommend having a solid friend group outside of your profession, repeatedly talking about how hard your life is to your friends can become boring. Having people who do not play the sport you play or who are not in your profession, helps you to relax and forget about your problems. When you are with friends you never run out of topics to talk about.
This phase builds resilience, you become mentally tougher since you are at rock-bottom and there is nowhere to go but up. People will criticise you, some will slaughter you, but stay strong and persist, take your punches and play defensively during this chapter, it is not easy but you will be able to connect the dots in the future.
Also, have a great bunch of friends who are in your profession during this phase, I had three great friends, all of them were much older than me but they taught me a lot about life, they impacted me positively. Having friends like these will help you enjoy the ups and downs of life.
3. The Momentum Building Phase.
This period will make or break you, it is the most exciting and it is also the most frantic period in your journey, but it is a whole lot of fun. This is where you start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Success will not flow to you immediately but you will start seeing drips of success come into your life.
You will know you are at this chapter because your skill level will be very high and you will find challenges easy.
At this phase, I have seen three reactions. The first is where people get disappointed and give up, I believe they get impatient, they feel like life is unfair. The second is a group of people who see these little drips and they want more, some are just curious to see where this momentum takes them, and the third group becomes determined to attain what they desire. I would say I belong to both parts of the latter groups, on one hand, I want to see where my hard work takes me, and I also desire to play sports professionally.
Stay humble when you are building momentum, I have found that becoming complacent during this phase takes away all the steam that you built, you have to keep on going forwards, do not rest on your laurels. You should focus on the mental side of your profession, look to know yourself during this period.
Ask yourself questions, reflect on your highs and lows, and write down your thoughts, this helps you clear out all the doubt and fear in your head. If you know yourself, you cannot be beaten because you will play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses.
Be really busy during this phase, do not get bored and avoid being idle at all costs. Idleness brings complacency, complacency brings boredom and boredom leads to failuire.
4. Success.
The sweet taste of success, this phase is the best, you finally get what you want. Recognising this phase is easy, you get awards, you get money etc which are all material signs of success, but the best part is when you get the feeling of accomplishment, you start grinning from ear to ear, the world seems awesome.
During this phase, look to help people, the pro started off as a rookie and because you are successful you have the license to help others, do not be arrogant, be confident. Helping others gives you the feeling of fulfilment that I believe symbolises true success.
To conclude this article, everyone is on one of these stages, no matter where you are at, work on your craft every day.
