An award.
A friend of mine won one recently. I was genuinely happy for them. But if I’m honest, a small voice inside whispered, “Why haven't I won one in a while?”
Later, while telling the story that felt relevant, a client asked me one simple question,
“But did you buy the ticket?”
Isn’t that the truth for most of our comparisons?
We look at the successes of others and ask, “Why not me?” But a more useful question is, “Did I put in the work? Did I care enough to show up again and again... and again? Did I play the game?”
Most of us have all the seeds of success inside us - talent, ideas, potential. But these are only the seeds. Fruit requires gardening. Without effort, nothing grows. Without commitment, it never sprouts.
Pressfield wrote in The War of Art:
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
That resistance often looks like waiting for luck. Hoping success just arrives. Watching others win the prize while never entering the race ourselves.
Think of the lottery. It’s fun to imagine winning, but if you don’t buy a ticket, you’re not in the game.
It works the same way with careers, creativity, and business.
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Alex Osterwalder didn’t stumble into a globally known innovation toolkit with Strategyzer. He sketched, tested, refined, published a PhD, failed a ton after, and kept at it until it spread worldwide.
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David Allen didn’t “get lucky” with his worlds known productivity system, Getting Things Done. He put decades into learning and testing, into experiments, until a system emerged.
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Julia Cameron didn’t become a patron saint for artists by accident. The Artist’s Way came from years of practice, refinement, and showing up for her own creative battles.
None of them just wished for success. They bought a one-way ticket. They signed up for the journey, committing to keep moving forward no matter what.
If you feel like some success is missing from your life (like I sometimes do), here’s a simple formula proven by all the world's greatest:
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Choose something you care about. Something worth your effort.
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Prioritize it like you care. Give it time, energy, focus.
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Give it a decade. Show up long enough for compounding to work its magic.
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Win🏆
Over to you, dear reader, the next time envy creeps in, don’t ask, “Why not me?” Ask, “Did I buy the ticket?”