I want to share a concept with you. I’m going to post this video that I’m going to talk about, along with this post. It really inspired me this morning to share something with you. It’s the concept of what you do when nobody is watching. What do I mean by that? At the end of the day, we look at all of these people, we look at these Olympians today. The Olympics just kicked off on Friday night. It’s been a wonderful weekend. The medals are racking up for everybody. It’s beautiful stuff to watch, and we look at this stuff and it looks so effortless to these people. It all looks so easy.
Maybe now it is easy to them. It comes second nature, but it’s all of those hours and hours of practice they put in in the dark, when nobody’s watching, that leads to that moment in time. That leads to that one minute or two minutes, or hours of success for these gold and silver and bronze medalists.
My question to you is this. What are you doing in the dark? What are you doing when it’s just you and your books and your iPod, your iPad, your iPhone, your Android phone. How are you maximizing your resources to make sure that, when your moment comes, it’s effortless and second nature for you? Answer that question for yourself. Think about what you’re doing. Think about how you’re going to make that next step to success. There’s going to be many, many hours of preparation to hit that level of success.
I’ll guarantee you that the Steve Jobs of the world, and Tim Cook that took over Apple after him, Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Curry in the NBA, Peyton Manning in the NFL. It’s like in sports, as spectators, we see that moment in time and we have some sense of all the work that goes into it because we see ESPN, we see the practices, when they’re doing pre-game and all of that stuff, all of the pre-season work that goes in, but what about those people in business, or people that are in the recording industry? Look at Beyoncé. Do you think Beyoncé is the mega-star that she is today just because she has a beautiful voice? That woman works her ass off every single day. That woman never stops, and honestly, it’s not work for her. It’s passion. She’s passionate about what she does, and that’s a huge key to being successful in this world. Find your passion and ride that passion all you can.
I’ll relate to you a small story about myself. It’s a common thing in our society, right? People are always asking, “How are you doing? What are you doing?” I’m always doing outstanding. It’s a matter of mindset. I always tell people, “I’m having an outstanding day. I’m having an outstanding life,” and what am I doing? I’m always working. I am always working, every second, every minute of the day, even if I’m sitting with friends. I’m sitting there absorbing and observing everything that’s going on in that context of my passion in life, my passion to share a positive message with people, and finding out that next thing that’s going to hit me like this video did, so that I can share with you.
When I say that to people, I often get back from them, “Oh, I’m sorry.” I’m like, “Hell, I’m not sorry. I’m working in what I love to do. I’m working with people I love to work with, and that’s my choice.” The video I want to share with you, and it is linked below, is the Michael Phelps Under Armour commercial. I ran across it this morning and the key is at the very end of it. It’s the statement that Under Armour throws up against the black screen,
“It’s what you do in the dark that puts you in the light.”
I hope that strikes you as strongly as it struck me. I hope this strikes a chord with you and helps you to look for that next level in your life.
