It’s likely that you scroll social media every day. You see the same things over and over and it can do weird things to your confidence. But there is one reel that you probably aren’t seeing.

No one is publishing the blood, sweat and tears reel. 

We live in a world of highlights. On social media, all you see is the highlight reel of someone’s life and successes. 

You don’t see the full journey.

Yes, we see people excelling more than ever now. But it’s not that more people are actually excelling. It’s just that their success is more public. And seeing so much of it, you might assume it is suddenly somehow easy.

The truth is that when it comes to excelling at anything, there has to be a steady effort behind the scenes. There’s this hard fought journey that no one sees.

You can’t reach success by skipping that.

Not enough people stop to ask, “what kind of effort did that person put forth to get to that moment?” Instead of asking, some just assume the success was luck. Or maybe they think that they were just born gifted.

The real answer is that along the way there were lows as well as plateau moments. Everything wasn’t a win. There were losses and moments in the middle. And, most importantly, they put in a lot of hard work to get through it all. The only thing steady and constant on that journey was the work…

Now you might see the winning side. But before those moments, there were moments of frustration or moments when they had to take apart their game and put it back together again. You just don’t see all those emotions though, or even those tears.

I know, it’s hard to believe that those people you are looking up to and following have anything but highs but they do…

Success doesn’t just happen.

Everyone seems to be focused on finding the shortest route, clicking ahead to the end of the success story.  With so much at our fingertips, everyone has started to expect instant gratification. Everything is accessible. Some seem to think, even instant success. 

Hot tip: You can’t get to skip to the good part. (And you shouldn’t want to either).

Getting to the high point in your story is not as easy as a click of a button on an app.

You won’t see this in the online highlights but I’ve actually gone through a lot of ups and downs in my career. Through it all, whatever I was experiencing or feeling, I put in the work. I persevered. I learned. I fought any emotions to keep going. And I discovered that getting to the top isn’t ever a straight line.

Often when asked how I managed my career and success, I’ve answered with one word. “Grit.”

Because like anyone else who has achieved any success, I didn’t just appear there. I’ve always worked my way to it.

An important part of my mental game is always doing the hard work.  

I have talked about this a lot to my youth bowlers.  When they see professional bowlers excel, it’s so public. It gets to the point that all they know about a person is their winning. It can be easy for them to disassociate that person’s success from the work that got them there. They don’t see the journey. They see the end result. Yet, I tell them that the highs, the lows and the perseverance are all a part of any success story. It’s always been important for me that I connect those dots for the kids. I remind them that Jason Belmonte – or anyone else they could name as someone successful they follow – has endured any number of highs and lows, while always putting in the work.

Diligent work pays off.

If you want to succeed like any greats you admire, you just have to consistently show up. Even if you can’t see all the work they’re doing, know that they are doing the work. That is how they achieved their greatness. That’s why only a handful of people make it to the elite levels at anything. They are the ones who persevered and put in the work. These are the ones who got back up when doing so was hard. .

If you want to be great in anything, do all the things too — find the resources, surround yourself with the right people and show up to put in the work.

Trust in the entire journey, even the difficult moments, and keep showing up.

Whatever goal you are working towards, don’t just go through the motions or look for shortcuts. Take action steps forward every day, even when it is hard. That kind of strong mental game will get you anywhere you want to go, not just in bowling. 

This applies to life.

If you want to do any number of things, a strong mental game will help you. It applies to everything.

And I’m here to help! I’m working on a special something for you called “Monthly Mindset” to help you stay consistent with your mental game. It will be your chance to have me as your mental game accountability partner. Each month, directly in your inbox, you’ll get easy action steps you can use to assess, set and reset your mental game. I want to help you stay on track for your success! You can get on the waitlist here so you don’t miss out when I release it!