Let me tell you about the moment that my life changed.

It was the day before a wedding I was attending solo in New York City. Alison and I had split. I was lonely.

This wedding was a gathering of top online fitness marketers. Millionaires. I felt like an imposter.

I’d been building the PTDC for a few years with some growth, but no real success. Still, every night after clients and every weekend, I’d write articles and network.

After a few years of seemingly endless work I began to feel directionless, like it was all for naught and that I’d never figure it out. I was doing all of the right things, I thought, but I hadn’t gotten any breaks.

So there I was, walking around New York City by myself. With no data in the USA, my phone was offline. I was lonely, directionless, and about to meet a whole bunch of people I admired, knowing that I didn’t belong. My thoughts spiralling downwards.

That day was also the final day of the launch of a program I had released. The sale had gone OK, but not great––which led to my feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness.

After a few hours I stepped into a Starbucks to use the wifi. Immediately my phone went online and it buzzed.

I froze and started to shake. The buzzing went on for minutes.

Every single buzz was a sales notification email.

This was when I knew that my life had just changed. Nobody else knew it. After doing the math, $185,000 USD had just buzzed into my phone.

All of this was happening during my walk. At the literal exact moment that I was feeling sad, lonely, and directionless my life was changing and I didn’t know it.

People think success is linear. They are wrong.

Preparing for success often feels like you’re moving backwards.

Monster Drinks, one of the best performing stocks of all time, has increased an incredible 319,000% from 1995 to 2018. It also traded below its previous high 95% of the time during that period––meaning that 95% of the time it appeared to be moving backwards.

Success comes in quick hits. It happens in surprising and unpredictable ways. To earn your success you have to be willing to work through hard times 95% of the time where things feel hopeless and maybe even like they’re moving backwards.

Success happens to people who make a good plan, execute relentlessly and don’t give up when times are tough.

Because times are always tough for everybody sometimes right up until the moment it all changes. It did for me at least. At the literal exact moment I was considering giving up and feeling like a failure, my life was changing. I just didn’t know it until I walked into Starbucks for free wifi.