Play the Long Game

Dear colleagues,

This week we ponder on the following:?Play the Long Game: small, sustainable, and consistent gains equal major victories over time.

Personal perspective

“On your marks, get set, go!”

Imagine you are taking part in a marathon. How would you approach it? Would you start running with everything in you the second the signal is given to go? How do you approach a marathon? You pace yourself; that’s how. You would not go out applying 100% of your effort right from the start. This approach would surely burn all of your energy in one go. Rather, you would apply just enough effort to maintain a steady pace and keep it going over a long time. Keep doing this for long enough and you will find yourself making incremental, sustainable gains – one kilometre at a time. And you don’t allow yourself to get side-tracked by unimportant things along the way. You stay focussed on the final prize – the finishing line. You visualise it in your mind, all the time. You see yourself crossing it. And with each well-paced step you move yourself closer to that goal.

Now imagine what would happen if you were to aim at getting 1% better at some area of your life each day. Just 1%. Do this consistently, and you will be amazed at the result, because the power of compounding kicks in and suddenly you see yourself growing in leaps and bounds, by just aiming for a 1% improvement each day. Small, achievable goals reached consistently build up to become major victories over time.

But they have to be?small?victories because you need to accept the challenge. Really accept it and believe you can conquer. Moving from one small victory to the next, every day. Every small victory provides you with enough confidence to tackle the next obstacle and achieve another small victory. Keep doing this, and over time your small victories add up to become bigger victories. Your small boosts of confidence become bigger. It becomes a more consistent flow of confidence – in yourself and your ability to conquer.

You can do this! You’ve seen it before. You’ve conquered that anthill, haven’t you? Yes, you did! Well, maybe then you can conquer that pile over there, right? You’ve conquered the pile. Who says you can’t conquer that hill over there? Once you’ve taken the hill, surely you’ll be able to conquer that small?koppie. Now that you’ve conquered the koppie, you’re ready to take on that mountain! And so on.

But it’s a process. It does not happen overnight. Patience is needed. Patience both in the way things unfold (God’s plan for you) and patience in your ability to grow. Think of yourself as someone you have been asked to care for. Deeply care for. Become aware of your needs and shortcomings – areas that might show room for improvement. Then work with a plan to improve those areas. Step by step. Be kind to yourself and have patience.

Victory is certain, but victory takes time. Pace yourself – you’re in the race for the long haul. You can do this!

Leadership perspective

Today’s quote links to?the Law of Process, which forms part of the?21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership?by John C. Maxwell (as discussed before). Leadership develops daily, not in a day. Leadership compounds over time, through continuous learning and improvement.

May you have a blessed week!

Henry Venter