Episode 142: Success takes time

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and I've been reflecting on how long things take and with that, how much of a gift we've been given when we've been given life. Life takes time. Life is long. But we're so impatient. We want things to happen so quickly. We want success to happen so quickly. But one thing I've learned, and it's learned the hard way, and you probably understand it as well, and that is things take time. Every success Every big smile that I eventually— eventually, emphasis on eventually— had on my face, it took time to get there. Think of athletes, how much time they put in to get to where they're at. Yet, you know, as the audience, we sit there and we watch them do their thing and like, it looks so easy, but do you know how much time they put in? In your life, those moments that you've had that have felt wonderful, how much time did it take? How much work did— look at work, look at your job, you're working on a project. How much time and effort, emphasis on effort, did you put in to at the very end of that project to get a moment of happiness? Happiness, gratitude. Things take time, so much time. I started a new job a year ago, and now only after one year do I feel that it makes sense. I got this. I can see a pattern. But do you know what a one year is? While in parallel, life is going on, private life, family life, all these complexities, and you're in the middle all of it. You're starting a new job, right? Does this sound familiar to many of you out there? Everything's happening at the same time. You can't figure things out. And all the things that are happening at the same time, they're all complicated. A lot of them are frustrating you. You can't— life is hard. And when life gets hard, that's when you got to tell yourself, things take time. Now, when you have that attitude, things take time, you have to realize you got to grind at it. You have to push yourself through it. You really got to work at it. You can't just sit back and just say, well, Well, in time this thing is gonna be all worked out, so let me just sit over here on the sofa and watch some more Netflix. Not picking on Netflix, just is an easy one. You have to put and invest in yourself, but you have to remember things take time. I can't tell you how many times, you know, it's funny, I was thinking about this and yesterday I saw a video, a short video. It had, um, not Al Pacino, the other amazing actor, and had also Tom Hanks, and then they had this one young actor. And they had the legends of acting, and they're all in their 60s now. And asked the young guy— no, the young guy asked them, what is the one advice you have, we have for you? And Tom Hanks smiled, and they all looked at him, and Tom Hanks said, things take time. That's the one advice they have after living a full life of being World famous, doing so many amazing things, money never being a problem, at least in their later life. Their one reflection is that things will pass and everything will get better because things take time. And I thought to myself, that is so funny. Here I am thinking the same things, and yet Here it is, the universe at work again, connecting the dots. So I want to remind you, things take time. Whether you are in a relationship, it takes time. Whatever situation you're in, you're trying to learn an instrument, you're trying to be better at some athletic sport, you're starting a new job, you're starting a new weightlifting program, you're starting a new— you're going to the gym and you just signed up, it's gonna take time. Everything takes time, but it's worth it at the end. And remember something really important as you have this reflection of things take time. Enjoy the journey. You're in the gym. It's uncomfortable. I've never been to this gym before. How do I use this equipment? What's the protocol in this gym? All these things like that. Remember that life is about meeting those people in the gym. There might be 1 or 2 people who become friends. It might be 1 or 2 people who you meet on the way to the gym or going home back from the gym that you were supposed to meet. Have that perspective in life. And as things take time, you are having a fuller, more enriching life, meeting amazing people, seeing amazing things, enjoying moments of your life. Don't just have things take time because it's all about the things in between as well. Because that end goal with the end, when you have the success, sometimes it wasn't about that success. It was about all the amazing people you met along the way. I remember I was coaching a basketball team. These kids worked hard. They won the championship at the end of the season. They're jumping around all over the place in the locker room celebrating, and they're kissing the trophy and all the things they've seen on TV. I said, tell them all, sit down. They look at me like, why is this guy pissed? Why is Coach pissed? We just won the championship. We did it. I said, put down the trophy in the middle of the room. And they all looked at me. They sat down quietly. Now remember, they were jumping all over each other, and now they're wondering what the hell's going on. And the trophy's sitting in the middle room. They're all sitting against the lockers, right, all surrounding, you know, like in a circle around this trophy. And I tell them, how dare you kiss this trophy? How dare you celebrate the trophy? If you got nothing today, this day would still be great because this is a celebration of you. You should be jumping on each other. You should be hugging yourself for the dedication you've given yourself, the dedication you've given, the sweat, the blood, the bruises, the injuries, the time you took away from your schoolwork, the time you took away from your job, the time you took away from your family. All you did, all this dedication you put into this sport— sport was basketball. And at the end of one year of dedication to you, to your belief that you could be a better player, to your belief you could be part of this great team, you won the championship. You are all the best of the best. Don't celebrate the trophy. Celebrate you. There was a pause in the locker room. It took them a second to get it. They felt bad in that first second. In the second second, they started smiling and they got it. And I said, celebrate. They jumped all over each other and no one touched the trophy. And at the end of the celebration, we all were going home. I asked everybody, Who wants to take home the trophy? Because usually on any team, you know, you want to take home the championship trophy, show the mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, whoever. Not one kid wanted to take home the trophy. I said, life lesson learned. Very good, gentlemen. Things take time, but it's about you, the time and effort you put in. Do not give anybody else credit after you dedicated a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade to yourself. I moved to Norway many years ago and it took a long time, a long time, years before I finally figured this place out. Things take time, but it's worth it. Whatever you do in this new year, Whatever sacrifice, whatever goal you have, it's going to take time, but it's worth it. And as you dig in, as you go through that frustration, enjoy the journey. But you're going to get there. But things take time. Go forth and spread beauty and light. Give yourself a hug. And then get back in it. But it's worth it. There's nothing like that feeling of clarity. There's nothing like hitting that note on that violin, on that saxophone that you've been trying to get for so damn long. There's nothing like nailing that presentation. There's nothing like being able to lift that weight that you've been trying to lift for God knows how long. There's nothing like doing a pirouette that you've been trying to pull off. There's nothing like doing a somersault that you've been trying to do for months. All these things, all these efforts, all these actions, all this belief in you is worth it. But it takes time. And along the way, love everyone you meet. It's okay to have moments of flaws where you forget to. You're human. I'm human. But love your life and love yourself. I'm Thomas Anglero, talking about what I think— nah, what I know works. You work. You're fantastic. You're amazing. Don't forget that. Don't forget, I love you very much. I'm your biggest fan. Until next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com. And you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.