FIRST, BUILD IT BAD
Champions aren’t born. They’re built. That’s the foundational belief that drives the work we do at Champions 101, and I hope your belief, too. What that really means is that who we are in the important areas of life and performance isn’t nearly as important as who we’re working to become. It means that real, authentic success for us at the next level requires us to create something - either for ourselves or for others - that’s never existed before.
Maybe it’s a new skill we need to build. Maybe it’s a new mindset we need to develop. Maybe it’s a new perspective we need to cultivate, a new product we need to create, or a new process we need to commit to. I don’t know where exactly it is you want to win, and I don’t know what exactly it is your future success is waiting on you to produce, but I am certain that that important building work needs done for you, just like it does for me.
The good news is, each of us have been given this critically important ability, including you. In fact, many of the things success most requires you to possess, you are more than capable of building. And the truth is, building something you know really matters to your future success is one of the most fulfilling things you can do. Think of something important you’ve built - a new habit or a new discipline. A new relationship or a new response. There’s an element of pride that comes with working hard to create something - either for yourself or for others - that’s never existed before.
The bad news is that building something meaningful is rarely quick, easy, or convenient. Rome, we are routinely reminded, wasn’t built in a day. Creating something of significance takes time and effort. There’s a process it requires each of us to go through, and what we produce in the early stages of that process isn’t typically all that attractive. In fact, our initial attempts are often downright ugly, awkward, and unattractive. That's one of the harshest realities that this building process requires us to accept, that the early versions usually suck.
This can be hard to accept, especially when you’re someone who has a high expectation for yourself, when you're someone who cares deeply about your performance, and when you're someone who really wants to be really good at the things you’ve determined really matter. When those early attempts don’t look the way we want, it wounds our pride and it threatens our ego. When you’re used to being good at what you do, it’s tough to admit that what you've tried to build is trash.
But the big idea I really want to highlight here today is that in some of the really important areas of life, the only way to build something good is probably first to build it bad. Yes, those early versions suck, but choosing to get started in spite of the ugliness, the awkwardness, and the unattractiveness pushes you down the only path real success usually offers: the long, slow, inconvenient one. Getting to work, discovering the flaws in your execution, rebuilding a more effective and more successful version, and making the next iteration just a litter bit better? That’s the process. Too many people walk away from a really important building project in their life - one they’d be really proud to complete - all because they can’t see the difference between “not that good” and “not that good yet.”
I want to challenge and encourage you to consider what it is that the next level of your success requires you to build - either for yourself or for someone else. Maybe it’s a new skill or a new mindset. Maybe it’s a new perspective, a new product, or a new process. Maybe it’s a new habit or a new discipline, a new relationship or a new response. Then I want to challenge and encourage you to accept the harsh reality that this building work requires you to accept - that the early versions of your work will probably suck. But if you want to create something meaningful and significant, then you've gotta be willing to build it, even if that means first building it bad.
