If you did not know what an egg was, you would be shocked when one day the seemingly unexciting egg suddenly started to crack and a little chick popped out. What an amazing, miracle transformation. Egg one minute, chicken the next!

Certainly the event is a pivotal point in the life of a chicken: a literal breakthrough. However, from the point of view of the baby chick it is just another necessary step in its development. It was clearly getting too big and it was time to move on. Most people still view life with the wonder of someone staring at an egg for the first time. We look at people’s achievements and think that they are magical and amazing. But if you step back and look at the course of the lives of monumental figures, you see that their development is often not as shocking to them. Why is that?

People that have achieved great success have often done so through years of hard work. Each day building on the one before. We can point to breakthrough moments but the buildup to those breakthrough moments is often overlooked by casual observers. The Michael Jordans and Tiger Woods of the world practiced in relative obscurity for years before they had their breakthroughs. The Beatles played hundreds of gigs before appearing on the Ed Sullivan show. These people were no different the day before they had a breakthrough than they were the day after, but their circumstances had changed.

While this might seem obvious, I believe that many people live their lives waiting for their breakthroughs, daydreaming about when they win the lottery. What training has taught me is that you just have to focus on the day to day training. Focus on the task at hand. You cannot sit around and wait for your circumstances to change, you just work everyday and try to get better. You will eventually be like a snowball that gains size and speed as it rolls downhill or an account that accrues interest day after day. Nothing seems to happen at first, but eventually things take off.

Be patient and do your best everyday. Cherish your time inside your egg and your breakthrough will come.