Success is Not an Accident

“Are the habits you have today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow?”

In the sea of inspirational Youtube videos, there is one that stands out for me. It is about Steph Curry.

It tells the story of someone seeing Steph Curry play for the first time at a basketball camp for elite prospects. Curry wasn’t a big deal at the camp. One of the least recognizable prospects there. But there was something that separated him from the others. His habits.

He would start practicing earlier than everyone else, stay practicing later than everyone else, and demand more of himself during practice than anyone else. He was this relatively short, skinny kid, who wasn’t exceptional, but within a decade would become the best basketball player on the planet.

There is a quote from the video that sticks with me.

“Are the habits you have today on par with the dream you have for tomorrow?”

This is the big question. Are you paying the price today for the world you want tomorrow?

Getting what you want is not elusive or complex. You just have to be willing to put in the work required. You have to be ready to make positive choices and build positive habits.

Habits are choices compounding. When you make a small decision every day, it becomes more and more automatic. After a couple of months choosing to do push-ups when you get out of bed, you will eventually find yourself doing it on auto pilot. Lying on the floor, doing push-ups, wondering, “how did I get here?”

The message of the video is that success is not an accident, that it is a choice. We can choose to be successful if we are willing to pay the price.

But success is not an easy choice. It’s not like turning on a light switch. It’s not just going to happen for you, and it is not going to be lighthearted for most of the way. Success is a million small choices, compounding into habits. It is choosing to eat well today, to exercise today, to read a book today, to practice your craft, today. In all the moments when you are drawn to take the easy way out, it is choosing to do what is right for your future.

It is easy to do all the tough things tomorrow. The hard part is consistently practicing them at the moment.

So start now. Remember that the small choices you make today will compound. Like droplets of water dribbling into streams and creeks cascading into rivers before rolling into the sea. Your small choices build on each other, and together they have huge consequences in the long term.