It is fascinating to use historical examples to illustrate leadership principles. In the Lauching a Leadership Revolution book, co-author Orrin Woodward and I use several. What I don’t think we’ve ever told anyone, however, is that we stumbled upon the idea by discussing Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots. His story was such a clear illustration of the Third Level of Influence; Performance, that it inspired us to find other individuals whose stories could serve to equally illustrate the book’s concepts.
Tom Brady’s story is extremely interesting. It caught our attention because of the deliberateness he used to climb from scrawny obscurity to international stardom. His success story is an excellent example of what can happen when a person commits to making steadfast, incremental, consistent improvements in one’s self over a long period of time. Since we wrote the book in 2005, Tom Brady has driven himself even deeper into the record books, recently leading the Patriots to an undefeated regular season, and being named the league’s MVP. As I write this, he and his team are one win away from another Superbowl appearance.
Author Robert Kiyosaki writes about what he calls the three keys to wealth:
1. long term vision
2. delayed gratification
3. the power of compounding
In the story of Tom Brady, all three of these principles can be seen at large. His story is covered from a slightly different angle in our book, so I won’t rehash it all here. My purpose in this article is to focus upon #3: the power of compounding.
Most people, when they are new to the self-improvement journey, don’t realize the power of proper steps applied over a long period of time. There is a saying, which I believe to be true, stating that "people overestimate what they can achieve in a year, and underestimate what they can achieve in ten." The challenge for most people is staying the course when they don’t see any evidence of results for their efforts. Frustrated, they give up and quit, leaving behind the new ground they had gained. Later, perhaps, they get reinspired and begin again. Only now, they are forced to re-plow ground they’d already covered before. This cycle then repeates itself.
Others, however, and a trite small number it appears to be, break out of this cycle. They make a decision based upon a long term view to improve or accomplish something in their life. Then they get to work doing what is necessary to head in that direction, delaying gratification, saying "no" to a thousand "good" distractions that come up along the way, focusing instead on the one great, overriding goal they’ve set on the long term horizon. As the days go by, these people take the little steps of improvement, ever heading toward their goal, one tiny inch at a time.
At first, of course, no one notices any results. This phase might last a long time. Then, their efforts are noticeable enough that critics are attracted to throw their bile upon the proceedings. Many times, this is enough to break the cycle and get the person to quit on their journey. At this point, though, champions persists. Eventually, results starts to show up. Next, results become entirely obvious. Somewhere at this point in the journey, people start saying that the achiever is "talented" or "gifted" or "lucky" and "were always going to make it big in something." These comments may be true to a small extent, but they are due more so to the weeks and months and years of work when no one was paying attention. No one, that is, but the achiever.
Whenever we see people who have achieved enormous success, stature, character, mental fortitude, or spiritual maturity, we can know for certain that it was the result of a long process of incremental change. Nothing truly good in the realm of human accomplishment comes easily or quickly. But incredible things can result from proper steps taken over a long enough period of time.
Benjamin Franklin, through his "Thirteen Virtues" forced himself to improve in his relations with people, transforming himself from an argumentative, dogmatic know-it-all into an ambassador capable of wooing the King of France in the middle of Europe’s most complicated court environment. Theodore Roosevelt, a small, weak, and sickly child, transformed himself into a hearty and adventurous leader, even taking a bullet in the chest at point blank range and being able to give a ninety minute speech before receiving medical treatment! And skinny Tommy Brady, growing up in California dreaming of being the next Joe Montanna, transformed himself into one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game.
The inspiring part about this principle is that it applies to everyone reading this page. Anyone can grow and accomplish beyond their wildest dreams if they will take to heart what this principle teaches. Never forget the power in the cummulative effect of incremental change over time!
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