1 smart thing pro athletes can teach you about massive success on Medium

Back when I was a sports journalist, there were always a few cliches that athletes would fall back on ad nauseam in pre or post-game scrums.

You probably know some of them if you’ve spent any time watching sports coverage on TV.

“We’re going to give 110%,” that sort of thing.

There was another one that would often pop up after a big win or a loss that I was somewhat dismissive of, but that actually serves as useful advice no matter what endeavor you’re tackling in life.

It applies just as well to people like myself who are trying to start an online business.

It is: “We’re going to try not to get too high or too low and just come to work every day.”

Put another way — respect the process.

Learn from athletes’ mindset when trying to accomplish anything — including starting your own business.

The highs and the lows

August 2023 was as low as it gets for me.

If you’ve been following me the last little while, you’ll know my Medium earnings got absolutely throttled by the new partner program.

I experienced a 70% drop in revenue overnight and haven’t recovered since.

But had I followed all those jocks’ advice when I was enjoying the highest of highs in April, I wouldn’t have been nearly as discouraged when it all came crashing down.

As I describe in the video below, my earnings in April were outlandish.

But I got too high, believing that the gravy train would roll on forever.

This doesn’t apply just to earnings, but to viral stories overall.

Here’s a secret about being a content creator that nobody talks about: the vast majority of your earnings will come from a tiny fraction of your work.

The Pareto, or 80/20, Principle applies.

If you want to make real money, you need to go viral, and that’s a rare occurrence indeed.

In fact, of the $20,000 CAD I’ve made writing on Medium over the past year, I’d say at least 1/4 to 1/3 of it has come from about 5 articles.

The problem with viral stories is you never know when they’re going to arrive, and oftentimes when they finally do, you take your foot off the gas because you’re already raking in so much money with ease.

You’re on a viral story high, and you think it’s going to last forever.

High highs

But, as those championship athletes will tell you, you need to stay focused on the process and not the game-to-game results.

In the content game, that means you need to keep grinding no matter what, or your momentum will soon fizzle into nothing.

Sometimes you’ll see a sports team win a championship and miss the playoffs the next season. Same idea.

The best of the best keep working no matter how much success they find.

I once heard an anecdote about basketball legend Michael Jordan.

As the story goes, his teammates are all in the locker room spraying each other with champagne and celebrating one of the six championships he won with the Chicago Bulls.

Michael, after soaking it in for a few brief moments, gets on the phone with his trainer and asks when they can get back into the gym.

Low lows

Alternatively, you can’t allow yourself to get too low either.

Often, I’d go through a slump after a viral story or video died off — as they all inevitably do — and stop producing.

My mood would be crappy, my positivity would wane, I’d get distracted by other things.

And, admittedly, I’ve experienced that with Medium over the past month or so.

But I’m committing to shaking it off now and listening to those high performers.

Yes, this has been a big setback.

But if you let setbacks shackle and define you, you’ll never achieve the level of success you envision for yourself.

Moving forward

So what am I going to do?

I’m going to recalibrate my expectations, rejig my process, and continue making small corrections until I get back on the path to success.

I’m going to dig down and find ways to thrive in this world while dedicating more time to exploring new ones.

It’s time to respect the process again.

If, like the most successful pro athletes, you always focus on the process instead of the accolades and setbacks, you’ll never be disappointed for too long.

It’s a tough lesson to learn.

I speak from personal experience.

But it’s a valuable one too, one that applies to all aspects of your life.

Success isn’t linear.

It’s built over time by picking up small wins day after day.

So, what small victory will you pick up before going to bed tonight?

Have you experienced anything like what I’ve described in this article? Let me know in the comments!