Ari Meisel Logo
  • Home
  • About
  • Success Stories
  • Programs
  • Books
  • Resources
  • Speaking/Media
  • Connect
  • Home
  • About
  • Success Stories
  • Programs
  • Books
  • Resources
  • Speaking/Media
  • Connect

The Torture of the Journey: Don’t forget where you came from.

Ari Meisel Featured Image

I had a 6 month review with a client recently, who’d been making really, really great progress. He was procrastinating less, being way more productive, really getting shit done. We celebrated his achievements — it really was great work, and progress (particularly inner progress) is extremely hard.

And then we stopped. It was time to reflect.

(Breaking-the-4th-wall side-note: Run retrospectives on your personal growth. Constantly.)

The worst thing you can do when you attain a certain amount of success, is forgot about how hard you worked to get there.

The analogy I always give is of crossing the Grand Canyon. It’s like making it to the end of the Grand Canyon, and looking back and marveling at it — it’s incredible, right? The problem is, most people latch on to that high and forget all the rattlesnake bites and broken legs that got them there.

This is a very common issue with crossing the chasm, that I coach most of my clients on. Success isn’t a one time thing — it’s a boxing match. You’ll come out on top one moment and get knocked out the next. You might be out of the forest now, but there’s another one coming.

You should never lose sight of what got you there. Because when the next rodeo inevitably comes, you need to be mentally prepared for it — and the higher up on the pedestal you place yourself, the bigger the fall.

Nearly 80% of NFL players are bankrupt within 2 years of retiring. I’m not making this up — you can even cross-reference the always-accurate Wikipedia page.

While a lot of this is attributed to poor money management, there’s plenty of young and wealthy people in other industries who don’t face nearly the same financial decay. So why is it prevalent among athletes in particular?

They forget where they came from.

With the majority of athletes, particularly in the NBA and NFL, coming from lower-income neighbourhoods, the moment they get exposed to any kind of wealth the game is “over”. What was once a life of grinding to perform and saving every dollar for basketball camps, now is one of partying in different cities every week and spending $40k at a club.

Then, they retire at 35, with a lifestyle that drives the remainder of their savings to extinction within a few years. And of course, while playing, they never do what they did the entire first 20 years of their lives: prepare for the future.

You can never lose the hunger that drove you to success in the first place, and the best way to do that is to never forget the struggles on the way. The best founders have a single thing in common: they’re always slightly terrified.

Unless you have a healthy fear of your demons coming back, you won’t be ready to fight them again when they do.

LEAVE A COMMENT

« Previous Post
Next Post »
Ari Meisel Image

Follow This Simple

3 Step Method to

Learn How to

“Optimize, Automate & Outsource”

Everything In Your Business You Don’t Enjoy

Get Instant Access to a Simple 3 Step Process to Systematize & Outsource All the Things You Don’t Enjoy Doing So You Can Get Out the Weeds and Focus on Key Opportunities to Drive Company Growth

This Training Has Helped Thousands of Entrepreneurs Like You Become More Productive and Conquer Feelings of Overwhelm By Creating Systems & Processes to Free Themselves and Their Team

most popular

The Amazing Inflatable Business

Cog. Engine. Engineer. Inventor.

Caught in a Riptide?

recent posts

Read this before spending a ton on a dashboard for your company.

Naveen Jain: Going to the moon & listening to your gut…literally | Less Doing Podcast Ep 296

I walked into a meeting at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday & asked my co-founder to buy me out of the company.

LEAVE A COMMENT

« previous POST

NEXT POST »

FOLLOW ME @

Arimeisel

Ari Meisel Footer Image

STAY CONNECTED WITH ME

Watch My Videos

0 +

Connect With Me

0 k

Follow My Life

k

Latest Articles

+
Ari Meisel Image

“Optimize, Automate & Outsource”

Everything In Your Business You Don’t Enjoy

Get Our Signature 3-Step Process to Systematize & Outsource All the Things
You Don’t Enjoy So You Can Finally Get out of the Weeds and
Focus on the Key Opportunities That Drive Company Growth

This Training Has Helped Thousands of Entrepreneurs Like You Become More Productive and Conquer
Feelings of Overwhelm by Creating Systems & Processes to Free Themselves and Their Teams

Ari Meisel Logo
  • Home
  • About
  • Success Stories
  • Programs
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Resources
  • Speaking/Media
  • Connect
  • Home
  • About
  • Success Stories
  • Programs
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Resources
  • Speaking/Media
  • Connect
  • Terms & Conditions
  •  Privacy Policy
  • Copyright Ari Meisel
Influex Logo White