Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to look for rain drops. After a while,
Speaker 1: small signs of success will show themselves if you are
Speaker 1: paying attention. Today's tip, like others this week, comes from
Speaker 1: my friend Dory Clark's new book The Long Game, How
Speaker 1: to be a long term thinker in a short term world.
Speaker 1: Dory teaches strategic patients most people aren't willing to stick
Speaker 1: with things for any length of time. If you are,
Speaker 1: your small winds will eventually add up and you will
Speaker 1: be far ahead of the competition. But of course, the
Speaker 1: reason most people aren't willing to stick with things or
Speaker 1: any length of time is that it is really, really
Speaker 1: hard to keep doing things without obvious signs of progress.
Speaker 1: We love the story of the overnight success, but no
Speaker 1: one is an overnight success. That breakthrough pop hit likely
Speaker 1: came after years of playing in smaller clubs too bigger
Speaker 1: and bigger crowds, So you need to be prepared for
Speaker 1: the long call. Dorry has studied thousands of people's careers,
Speaker 1: and as she notes, to gain notice in your field
Speaker 1: it often takes two to three years of effort before
Speaker 1: you see any results. However, at that point, you'll often
Speaker 1: start to see rain drops, small intermittent signs of progress.
Speaker 1: These rain drops, as Dory calls them, can be incredibly encouraging,
Speaker 1: but you have to look for them. So look. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's the first time you get double digit sign ups
Speaker 1: to your newsletter in the course of a week. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's the first time you land a speaking gig because
Speaker 1: someone in the audience at another speech heard you and
Speaker 1: liked you enough to hire you. Maybe it's the first
Speaker 1: time a potential client reaches out to you. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: the first time you see that an article you wrote
Speaker 1: for an industry publication has sparked a real discussion. It
Speaker 1: can even be a heartfelt email someone writes you about
Speaker 1: how much they enjoyed something you did. Celebrate these little successes,
Speaker 1: because guess what, the world isn't exactly going to offer
Speaker 1: them up easily. But if you can survive on these
Speaker 1: little successes, that will help keep you motivated for a
Speaker 1: few more years, and that is when the true breakthroughs happen.
Speaker 1: As Dorry writes, by year five, you've opened up an
Speaker 1: almost insurmountable distance between yourself and the competition. When potential
Speaker 1: clients type a term into a search engine, it's your
Speaker 1: articles that come up. When they listen to a podcast
Speaker 1: about your area of expertise, you're the guest. And when
Speaker 1: they want to hire a speaker, or a high level
Speaker 1: employee or an expert consultant to advise them, you're the
Speaker 1: only logical choice. So be prepared to be patient. Keep
Speaker 1: doing the work, but make sure to look for rain
Speaker 1: drops along the way. Those raindrops can keep you motivated
Speaker 1: when many other people would quit, and when you don't quit,
Speaker 1: you can reap the outsized rewards of strategic patients. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p O D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at I
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows and ye