How to Become the Greatest of All Time

Becoming great at anything has 3 key factors to it:

1. Starting
   The road to success begins with a single step. Thoughts in our head are simply not enough. We need to take action and begin if we want to achieve greatness.
   
2. Consistency
   Consistency is key. Repeated actions eventually become second nature. If you want to be the greatest at a certain thing, you will have to do it over and over thousands of times.
   
3. Persistence
   We all hit road bumps, challenges, and difficulties. It doesn’t matter how frequent they occur. What matters is how we respond to them. Don’t count the number of times you fall down, count the number of times you get back up.

Starting

Starting something is the hardest part of doing anything. So often, it is difficult for us to begin even the simplest of tasks. We procrastinate when just taking the first step would be so much easier, and even more so, beneficial.

There are many reasons why we procrastinate, including fear of failure. Just the thought of becoming the greatest at something is a scary one. Many people believe that what they want isn’t achievable. Rather than trying, they rather not start at all. Some people think that you can’t fail if you don’t try, but if you don’t even try, you have already failed.

Tips on How to Start

1. Don’t overthink. Just do it!
2. Visualize that you already achieved being the greatest. How does it feel? What does it look like? This will give you the motivation to start.
3. One step at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed by all the things you need to do. Just focus on the very next step.

“If you don’t even try, you have already failed.”

Consistency

Once you start, you will realize how easy it was all along. The hard part then becomes to consistently keep doing.

For the first 15 months of my blog, I wrote an article every week to stay consistent. To miss a week can begin a slippery slope where I start to fall off my path. Doing so has become a part of my routine.

There have been times when I feel like putting out 3-4 articles in a given week, but I resist the urge to do so. I know that it isn’t an effective long-term strategy. In order to stay consistent, we need to make sure that our efforts are sustainable. There is such a thing as overdoing. With this, you can go 2 routes:

A) Go all out balls to the wall
B) Do just a little bit every single day

Which way do you think will see more results?

Chances are if you go with Route A and go all out, you will run out of gas pretty soon. You can end up overworking yourself, and that initial inspiration will fade pretty fast. However, if you work at your craft day by day, just a little bit over time, you will begin to see a compound effect. Small steps lead to big results.

Tips on Being Consistent

1. Create habits around it. We are creatures of habit, so build your craft into your daily routine.
2. Set aside a designated timeframe every day. Maybe it is one hour from 7 pm-8 pm after work. Set aside time that is only dedicated to working on your craft.
3. Set up everything you need to succeed beforehand. For example, if you plan on consistently going to the gym every morning, have your gym clothes and gym shoes ready to go the night before.
4. Make it a lifestyle change. For example, thinking that you will need to consistently eat healthy and exercise for one year to reach your fitness goal may feel overwhelming. Instead, make healthy habits part of your lifestyle. This way instead of choosing an end point, you are incorporating the change into your life.

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” -Bruce Lee

Persistence

Persistency is taking consistency, doing the same actions repeatedly over time to see results, to an entirely new level.

Persistence is continuing to work on your craft despite all the difficulties, hardships, roadblocks, and challenges that you face.

It really is a true test of character and can push us to our limits. It also tests how badly we want to be great, by separating the people who kind of want it, from the people who really want it.

The people who kind of want to be great will give up when times get tough. Maybe not after the first obstacle, or even the tenth, but eventually they will give up if they are not fully committed.

The person who really wants it will push through and overcome all of the challenges in their way.

Tips on Being Persistent

1. Visualize. Just like when starting, imagine how great it would feel if you already accomplished whatever it is you want to be great at. This gives motivation during difficult times.
2. Rest. Challenges can get overwhelming and sometimes when facing a roadblock, the best thing to do is rest. Take the time to decompress, and then reassess the situation with a fresh mind on how to overcome any obstacles. I suggest meditating on it.
3. Stay Positive. It can be easy to feel defeated when things aren’t going your way but make sure to keep a positive mindset. Remember, if other people can accomplish this, so can you! It might not be the way you originally thought, but if you want it bad enough you will find a way.

Example

Doing these three things will over time make you an expert in your field, regardless of what it is. For example, say you want to become the greatest tennis player of all time.

Starting – First, you need to start at the beginning. Pick up a tennis racket. Hit a tennis ball. Learn the basics, play matches. Hire a coach. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are – just start.

Consistency – You picked up the tennis racket. Now comes the actual hard part. Consistency is playing tennis every day, or nearly every day. In other words: practice, practice, practice. To become great means continuously working at it.

Persistence– Persistence is pushing past difficult times. You will hit road bumps and blocks at every turn; from the very beginning to the very end. You might be really bad at tennis when you first start which may discourage you. You will probably lose a lot more than you win early on as well. Furthermore, there may be days when your body is sore, and you don’t feel like practicing. You may have a difficult time qualifying for tournaments. Even once you are one of the greatest, you may face heavy criticism from fans who prefer another tennis player over you. On the path to greatness, the amount of adversity or difficulties you face will be endless. Persistence is tackling these difficulties head-on.

Other Factors

You may be thinking to yourself; these are important but there are other factors to becoming the most successful of all time. Let’s explore these:

Talent

Talent gives you a much better starting off point than another person, which certainly helps. But talent alone will never allow you to be the greatest. Hard work, practice, dedication – all of which come from consistency and persistence – will always outperform talent.

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard”. -Kevin Durant

Luck

Luck is a great way to create excuses for yourself. You can simply chalk up all of your misfortunes to being unlucky. However, if you are persistent, eventually you will become lucky. That’s right, you can create your own luck! It’s just a matter of pushing through all the unlucky and unfortunate situations first.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” – Samuel Goldwyn

You may be wondering what about hard work, discipline, determination, effort, and so on? All of these surely play a role in becoming the greatest! And you would be right. But all of these amazing characteristics fall into subcategories under either Consistency or Persistence.

Best,

Eric