You have superpowers
What comes to mind when you hear or read about a successful entrepreneur, professional, entertainer, or athlete? Human nature means that generally speaking we are likely to wonder what privilege or luck that person benefited from or what God-given talent they were blessed with, while we fight hard to survive without. This reaction doesn’t make you a bad person, taking it at face value however certainly puts your future and overall happiness at risk.
I had a successful career over multiple decades in Corporate America, eventually being promoted to an executive role at one of the largest money managers on the planet. When this promotion was announced, a friend and colleague reached out to congratulate me but also to share his sense of frustration at bias and unfairness affecting - in his opinion - most others. He felt that as an Ivy League-educated, articulate, athletic, clean-cut, light-skinned, Catholic man married with children, I simply fit the mold of who is promoted in Corporate America.
We do not know the details behind others’ lives and only see what’s on the surface, so it’s easier to simply connect dots. That entrepreneur was at the right time and place for their idea. That corporate leader was just a byproduct of a system designed to produce them. That entertainer or athlete hit the gene (and agent) lottery. Embarrassing failures, set-backs, and disasters these folks had to overcome are usually long painted-over by the time we read or hear about their successes. The truth is that while privilege and bias exist; teamwork, discipline, and humanity are the real “superpowers” behind most success stories.
—> Take the time to reflect on your journey and find instances when your hard work was trivialized or diminished. How did that make you feel? Acknowledge and accept those experiences for what they are, and move on with confidence knowing you are more than those surface observations.
—> Because we live in a culture that idolizes outcomes over the hard work required to achieve them, commit to develop these superpowers yourself in a very deliberate and tangible manner. In my case, because I like the outdoors, I have the physical abilities, and I enjoy silence and solitude, I use ultra running as my self-development laboratory. I take on significant challenges on a regular basis that require me to consciously focus on developing my ability to work as part of a team, have the discipline and resilience necessary to understand and overcome major and at times life-threatening obstacles, and engage with the humanity necessary to achieve amazing goals with others. What is your plan to develop and constantly sharpen your superpowers?