Think Like a Triathlete

If you know who Gary Vee is, (An entrepreneur who has several multimillion dollar businesses/motivational speaker/social media icon) you know what he preaches. One of the things he says over and over and over again is, no matter how old you are, you’re still young, use your age and experience as leverage, work your ass off, stop worrying about what other people think, stop thinking that you don’t have enough time to make something happen etc. I completely agree with him. Don’t worry about what other people say and bet on yourself.

There’s a saying that goes, most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years. Now, imagine what someone could do with 50 years if their goal seems astronomical?? Having a massive long term goal and breaking it down piece by piece on how to achieve that goal, then taking massive relentless action towards that goal with an open mind is key. So, the question is, how do you overcome the constant fear and pressure you put on yourself?  

I have spoken to several entrepreneurs, ones who have been in the game for 3, 5, 20+ years, and they have all had similar testimonies. The pressure, stress and fears you have from day one never really go away, you just get better at not letting them slow you down or stop you. It’s like a muscle that you train on a daily basis, it gets stronger the more you work on it. One thing that I've found that's helped me is checking in on my goals every now and then making sure that my daily activities align with achieving those goals.

So let's unpack this, you have a MASSIVE goal such as becoming a billionaire in Real Estate and you have 50+ years to achieve it. How do you go from brand new entrepreneur, staring at a computer trying to figure out where to start, to becoming a billionaire? 

How I think of it is that I'm in a triathlon going 110% constantly towards my target. I know that I need to run, swim, and bike (which are like my smaller goals along the way). Each goal presents new challenges, each goal is going to be harder and harder to achieve but you just don’t stop. Now, I have never done a triathlon so I can’t speak to the mental/physical battle they face, however I can imagine by the time you are done with the first leg of swimming, you are exhausted, then you have to jump on a bike, then run… You don’t have time to think about how far you have to go, you don’t have time to look up. You are running your race, which is exactly how I take my day to day activities in business. I have reverse engineered what I believe I need to do to reach my goals with hundreds of smaller goals/milestones along the way. This helps me stay on course and not get too overwhelmed or burnt out. It also keeps me honest and gives me the kick in pants I need if I am hesitant to do something I have never done before. One other benefit of doing this is that accomplishing small goals or milestones gives you a chance to quickly celebrate a win and keep stacking wins which also helps your focus and keeps a positive mind.

Once I’ve set my eyes on these strategies, and take constant relentless action towards them, my fears go away and just like a triathlete, I only look up every now and again to make sure I am headed in the right direction.