the overnight success that took ten years to build
You’ve heard that saying before, “the overnight success that took ten years to build.” Most people miss the ten years it took to reach the level of “success” that has captured their attention.
Maybe you’ve heard the legendary story of Pablo Picasso being approached by a woman while dining at a restaurant and asked to draw something for her; the woman says she’ll pay whatever he feels it is worth. In a short time, he sketched something on a napkin and told her it’d be $10,000. Surprised by the price, given the amount of time he spent drawing, the woman scoffed and said it only took him a few minutes to draw it. Picasso responded that it took him forty years to make that drawing.
Before a history buff corrects me on this story, there are different versions of how much Picasso charged, how long it took to draw, and even if the story is true—I tried to find a balance between the different versions I’ve read/heard. Don’t miss the forest for the trees.
I don’t know about you, but I find my Self forgetting about the ten years, especially with the work I’m doing right now. Twenty years into my career and I’ve finally found my future “success”, the “authentic life,” and everything that surrounds and supports it. I have a message, a process, and the ability to really help people and make an impact on the lives of others—I want to see that take off RIGHT NOW.
I hear and see ideas, thoughts, and inspiration similar to mine on big podcasts, viral videos, books, and other platforms, reaching more people than I am. I want to see my message have the same opportunity to have the same reach–not for my ego (I’ve done work to ensure it’s not ego-driven), but because I believe it will help people.
But here’s the thing…
All those people I see and hear have been delivering their message much longer than I have. At best, I’m almost two years into the idea of the authentic life (it was born in Marco Island during our New Year's trip), and if I’m being honest, I’m not, and my message are not ready for that exposure yet.
I’m still clarifying the message behind the authentic life.
I’m still getting in the reps of helping people begin to align their spirit, mind, body, and money.
I’m still getting clarity on what my future version looks like in this work–it was just last week that I realized I’d never stop being a financial advisor. There was a time when I thought I’d eventually fade away as a financial advisor– eventually, RLS Wealth will naturally decline as my clients get older and move on from this life. I’ll always be a financial advisor. Some clients will need my help in that field, and others will just need life planning and coaching–I’ll be able to work with both since the only difference will be the financial advising in the ongoing relationship. I just recently understood this.
My current version of my authentic life would not allow me to travel around as a guest and/or record my podcast. It wouldn’t allow me to travel, giving tons of keynote speeches. It wouldn’t allow me to travel hosting small groups to do the work to begin to step into the authentic life. Even if the Universe brought these opportunities to me now, I couldn’t fully participate or enjoy them because I’m not willing to miss these years with Roman, Leo, and Silas. Eventually, Ang and I can say yes to everything that is a good fit and travel everywhere.
You want to guess when that time will be?
In about TEN FREAKING YEARS…lol.
In ten years, Roman and Leo will be finished or finishing college, and Silas will be heading into college.
In ten years, we will be free to do whatever is needed to help bring the message of the authentic life to more people.
In ten years, I will have helped numerous people and endless stories to share; I’ll have evidence of what the alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money can do for people.
In ten years, to most of the world, it’ll look like I came out of nowhere, but to the readers of the Daily Notes, the listeners of the LifeDesign+ podcast, attendees of my Keep Pursuing talks, and the people I’ve worked with will all know it’s been a Pursuit of over ten years.
Making the connection between my stage of life and what the next ten years (plus or minus a couple) will mean for me, my message, and my impact has been incredibly freeing. I have no pressure anymore to do anything other than continue to work towards being the epitome of the alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money, being present with my family, taking care of my RLS Wealth clients, slowly helping people who find me discover their authentic life, and creating what my heart tells me to create to share my message.
There’s no pressure in all of that—it’s all that I enjoy doing.
And in time, continuing to do that and allowing my Self to evolve with my authentic life, I’ll see the rest take care of itself as I know the Universe conspires to work with me and will bring whatever is supposed to come when the time is right.
Which will probably be in ten years.
🦅
I know what it's like to be excited about the future version of your Self that you see...be sure to give your Self time to grow and evolve into that person and enjoy the Pursuit of getting there. Enjoy those ten years, or however long it might take, because those years are an essential part of the Pursuit, and you'll never get them back.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
🦅 Some ways I might be able to help you live your authentic life:
🤝 One on Ones Let's hop on Zoom to do a guided meditation, a creative brainstorming session, or an overcoming an obstacle session.
📝 LifeDesign+ LifeDesign+ is rooted in the Kinder Institute of Life Planning’s EVOKE process, which is a five-step process to help discover what your authentic life looks like and begin to design a plan to bring that life to reality. It continues to incorporate the alignment of your spirit, mind, and body to ensure you evolve with your authentic life, as the authentic life is not a destination, it’s an evolution.
💸 AlignedLife+ AlignedLife+ (and the one-time engagement AlignedLife) takes LifeDesign+ to the next level by aligning your finances with your authentic life at RLS Wealth. For individuals looking for a financial advisor to help design and manage their financial plan while maintaining the alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money, AlignedLife+ was created specifically for you.
📈 LifeDesign+ for financial advisors LifeDesign+ for financial advisors mirrors the LifeDesign+ relationship, including the focus on the alignment of spirit, mind, and body, with an important distinction—once the plan for your authentic life has been designed, we shift our focus to integrating your new plan with your practice.
🤝 Outsourced life planning As your outsourced life planner, you bring me in to take your client through the Kinder Institute of Life Planning’s EVOKE process to help them better understand who they are, what they want their life to look like, and create a vision of this life for you to execute on the financial plan. Since you are their financial advisor, you will be a part of each of the meetings, so you understand the “why” behind your client’s new plan.
