The unsung hero

I’ll admit it… I’m a sucker for those nail-biting, overly-dramatized sports movies and documentaries. With the NFL season rolling in, it’s given me an excuse to binge on the marathons they are running (and eat my bodyweight in nachos).

Picture this one: A team is down by 28 points. The kind of lead that makes you wonder if there’s any coming back. In the midst of what seemed like a foregone conclusion, the quarterback yells at his teammates on the sidelines: “You can’t score 28 points in one play”.

It seems pretty basic, right? But with the pressure of the game, his teammates were all trying to make that ‘Hail Mary’ moment every snap.

I never was much of a football player — but I definitely related to this in my business.

When faced with a big challenge or lofty goal, I’ll catch myself scouting for that one thing — the Hail Mary — that will get me from where I am across the chasm.

It’s that one new piece of software, that one new offer, or that one big sale… That’s what I think I need…

But, in reality, that’s a bit like trying to score 28 points in one play.

In my experience, rarely is it a single thing that makes all the difference. The biggest successes I’ve had in my business have come from prolonged, consistent effort.

It’s the same in football as in business; persistence is the unsung hero behind nearly every success story.

But, unlike elite athletes, many people in our industry don’t have the stomach for the fight.

They write a couple blog posts, publish a handful of videos, and fire off a half-a-dozen emails before declaring “none of it works”.

The truth is, all of those things can work; but only if you’re willing to do them consistently.

Most scoring drives aren’t the results of some miracle… but small and moderate gains — even losses — before marching across the goal line.

The lesson here is simple: Just keep putting points on the board. With consistency and enough time, you’ll be surprised at how you can change the game.