Well, this is special. I came across a recorded message of Kobe Bryant when he wasn’t able to attend an award ceremony, and it almost sounds like it was made to be shared after his unexpected and unfortunate passing. Kobe’s illustrious career earned him elite accolades, titles, and historical recognition, but what is most impressive about Kobe are his methods. He would out work you. He would out work anyone. His singular focus from a very young age, and dedication to putting in the time to improve himself shows all of us that we too can achieve great things.

Central to the message you’re about to hear is his mentioning of doing something you love. The work becomes enjoyable when it’s contributing toward a passion. May Kobe’s legacy live on for generations, and may this be only the beginning of lessons we’ll learn from him as time goes on.

I had just sat down, waiting to board a flight at the airport when the gate next to me started boarding. This means there’s a big announcement, people lining up, time to go, right? Since I wasn’t focused in my work I took a moment to observe, and it was something really special.

The gate attendant, as she was announcing boarding groups, added her own style to it. “A as in awesome, group A boarding. Now up, Group B, B as in Beautiful. C as in charming Group C welcome aboard. D for delightful, come on in".

She didn’t have to do that, in no way is that a requirement of her job, but she did a small positive act just because. And if this doesn’t sound motivational let me explain. Everyone in the A group, on a subconscious level, identified with “Oh, I’m awesome”. As short lived as that mental processing was, it left an impression that creates micro ripples in the rest of their psyche. Same goes for feeling beautiful, charming, delightful. Doesn’t that sound motivational? And all because one person chose to act in a small, positive way.

Now, if you don’t believe me and the psychology behind what I just explained, you can’t deny the effect it had on me. I was moved, inspired by her choice, so here I am sharing it with you. Then you might share it with someone else, and this seemingly pointless act has propagated to reach many.

In your life, the small things matter. The smile at a checkout stand. The good morning in passing. The extra dish in the sink. Our actions have ripples larger than we can imagine, and to be a part of a greater world we can help those ripples begin.

How do you become an overnight success?

It sounds pretty appealing. We associate success with fulfillment, purpose, and validation, which are components we all are seeking in our life.

We all know someone who has been an overnight success. Other ways you might have heard it are they “blew up” or “are killing it”. Their path seemed so easy. One day they woke up and boom! They’re crushing it and they have all of this inbound interest and became the asset other people wanted to work with because “success” follows them around.

But structuring success as a process that happens overnight is narrow-minded. At first, it may seem lucky or coincidental, but that is far from the truth. It’s about awareness.

That overnight success has actually been compounding micro success for quite some time. That measurement has been internal, and no one else is truly aware of the progress, so they’re comparing the new successful state to the previous state which is zero. That way it seems like the success came overnight, when in reality it was brewing and stewing over time without anyone noticing it. 

This is an issue, because what happens is we feel like and know we’re making progress and no one else sees it. This makes us question or motivation to push on because we rely on others to validate our own interpretations, and often pushes us toward quitting or giving up.

So, What's the secret to being an overnight success? Work hard for a long time, with faith in your process and confidence in your ability!

Let’s talk about death, I know, death usually has a negative connotation, it’s a taboo topic, but it’s important to remember that it exists in contrast to life. In fact, talking about death can be a vehicle to better understanding how to live. That’s exactly what Kate Manser is doing. She is dedicating her life’s work to facilitate her “You Might Die Tomorrow” movement. One very practical exercise she shares is this thing called the Deathbed gutcheck, which is a tool to make decisions authentic to the life you want to live.

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I know it might sound difficult, but give it a try. In fact, in a deathbed study Bronnie Ware found that the biggest regret people had was, “they wish they had the courage to live a life true to themselves, not the life others expected of them”. This deathbed gut check is a way to determine just that, and just in case you’re life is cut short, you can be confident that you are truly living.

I know, it’s so easy to say the phrases; "Just get over it", "Let it go", "Try not to think about it","It’s in the past". While all of that might seem like beneficial advice, the sentiment of a bad day seems to still linger.  We’re quick to default to getting frustrated about a situation all because we’ve been primed by a bad day. This is a normal and evolutionary mindset. Our brains have been designed to notice the bad in our environment because it helped us with our survival.

Fortunately, that’s not our lives anymore. The stresses and issues that put us in a bad mood aren’t threatening our existence. They’re merely minor inconveniences. We cannot let a bad day ruin the present.

Thinking about a bad day is not the main issue. The real issue is over thinking, which gets us into trouble. With that in mind, I'm going to make a small tweak to the quote, and read it as, “Don’t ruin a good day by ruminating about a bad yesterday”. Overthinking leads to a cascade of negative emotions that could make make you frustrated and continue to think about the issue, thus, sustaining itself in a vicious cycle. 

So, it is really important to think about and process your bad days, because it’s through the process of reflection that you can discover yesterday’s purpose. Maybe it was teaching you a lesson, or preparing you for something greater. It could also humble you so that you can perform better in the future. And when you process the emotion, you can be grateful for what it offered you so you can move on emotionally.

I want to share a really interesting tidbit from a former SISD guest, Heather Monahan. She shared this story on her LinkedIn, I am going to read it now.

"I was on a flight to New York City and I had to go to the bathroom. 

Here’s the problem I’m flying GP aka General Public aka didn’t get upgraded and the line for the bathroom is insane. 

I look to first class and no line. 

I jump up and walk right into the bathroom. No one says a word. I move pretty fast. I head right back to my seat. The man next to me says, “how did you do that?”

I said 'speed to market is key and if you noticed I didn’t ask for permission'.

He jumps up and starts walking to first class where the flight attendant explained he would need to wait in the other line.  

I’m always seeing examples of business wherever I am. Don’t wait for permission. Don’t ask for permission. Move fast because speed is the new currency in business, and apparently bathroom breaks".

It’s such a good example, and refreshing to know that I’m not the only person that finds inspiration on airplanes. But, her point is about rules and permission. There’s always a way around it. Act ethically of course, there was no harm in what she did, but know that if you can’t go straight, you can go around.

On the last SISD, Case Kenny and I shared stories about how we each did something extremely uncomfortable just to push our personal boundaries. Case argues that it’s in these moments of doubt and self-questioning where we need to take action to move forward, because that experience will serve us in unimaginable ways. In fact, in the face of the uncomfortable situations he’s made a habit of unequivocal action.

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Basically, Case turned a weakness of his into a strength of his by shifting his identity. On the vein of Case’s practice, taking that next step, whatever it may be, has been so crucial to his growth and his success. I encourage you to try it. Introduce yourself to that stranger, upload that video, do it for you and don’t look back.

One of the most crippling things we can do is not take action. How can we expect anything to change if we don’t do something different? 

This next angle is within the context of reaching out to someone. And this is someone you don’t have a relationship with. Either you’re trying to expand your network, you’re trying to generate a new lead or partnership, or you’re hoping to make a new friend.

We’re afraid to reach out because we’re afraid we’ll get rejected. Yea, that sucks, but what’s the underlying, real consequence in that? I took the time to think through the real consequences and this is what I found.

So, the person you are targeting in your outreach, they currently are blind to you and your work. This means that they are not supporting or discouraging you in any way. What changes when you reach out? You briefly come into their awareness, and they make a decision on next steps. They either reply or schedule or whatever, great that's a mission accomplished! Or they ignore and dismiss. It’s in that dismissal where our fear lies. The embarrassment of not being enough, the foolishness for thinking it would work. But, those are your interpretations. You want to hear their interpretation? They treat you exactly as they did before, literally no different, not supporting or discouraging you. 

This is a powerful realization because, you can not lose if you reach out. You either make it better, or it stays the same. This is a hot take, what are your thoughts?