First Day
Treat every day as your first
There is someone that is starting in your industry today. Tonight. Tomorrow. They have been waiting for this moment for months, years, perhaps decades.
Are you ready for them?
Sometimes we forget that we are privileged to sit where we are. As individuals sometime we lack the judgement to realize that we are one of many. We lose sight of the struggle. Getting complacent we believe we deserve to be where we are. While those in our field are looking to take our seat at the table.
Take Shark Tank for example, one of my favorite shows, they have a new episode every week with another entrepreneur with a brilliant idea. The fight for capital is real. The fight for success is never ending. If you are not watching where you are going someone will build a bridge over the river and win the marathon.
Jay Z put it best in “My First Song:”
Puff told me like
The key to this joint
The key to staying on top of things
Is treat everything like it’s your first project, nomsayin’
Like it’s your first day like back when you was an intern
Like, that’s how you try to treat things like, just stay hungry
Remember that passion you had on day one? That first time you walked onto the college campus? Day one when you started your internship? The first time you walked into the corporate office? The first time you saw the NYC skyline on your way to work? That first customer you signed up at your startup?
I remember, I was not hungry for success, I was starving (still am actually).
While in the moment we tend to forget that success not magically appear. We are tricked into thinking that if we play it safe, work hard and stay committed the plaques are tossed out. Tossed out like turkeys on Easter. The reality hits harder, someone is plotting to take your spot. You are busy playing chess and the intern telling his broker to buy the chess board and all its pieces.
The 2 am nights and 6 am mornings. Sometimes our memory fails us of our previous struggle. We get comfortable. We forget. And that is how we fail.
Do not forget.
Someone is starting in your field tomorrow. They want that deal. They want that account. They want that promotion. They want to beat you at your own game.
Wake up early tomorrow and treat it like it is your first day.
