Perseverance: The Real Winner

Small Steps, Long Vision

People will always talk about the skills you need to make it in any industry.
They’ll mention strengths and weaknesses, what to learn, and what to avoid.

But I believe they forget the most important one: just showing up.

This week, I’ve had multiple superstars cross my path who are the true definition of this.
I attended a charity function for A Stitch in Time, where I listened to a conversation with Ned Brockman.

Now, Australians reading this will know who he is and what he’s done, but for the internationals:
Ned Brockman is an endurance athlete who does wild, extreme things to raise money for charity. I say “insane,” and so does he. He’s probably the most Australian bloke you’ll ever listen to, and an amazing speaker.

Ned ran 50 marathons in 50 days while working full-time as an electrician.
That’s working 7 to 4, coming home, and running 42 kilometres every single day for 50 days.
He has run across Australia.
He has run 1,000 miles around a track non-stop in just shy of record-breaking time.

Ned is a legend, and I mean it. These feats are incredible, and he’s raised nine million dollars for charity.
His motto? Just keep showing up.
He believes if you do that, the rest will fall away. This is a man whose broken and bruised body still runs 100 kilometres when most people would have stayed in bed.
A true superstar, and someone I felt unbelievably inspired by while listening to him speak.

The second example is different, and comes from a completely different conversation: golf.
Now, for anyone who’s not a golf fan, don’t worry. This isn’t really about golf. It’s about mindset, and the power of just showing up.

Rory McIlroy won the Masters Tournament yesterday, Australian time, completing the Grand Slam, which means he’s won every major tournament, and is now one of only six people in history to do so.

But winning the tournament isn’t the part I find incredible.
He nearly threw it away a few times, but had an amazing turnaround in mindset that helped him get over the line.

What’s truly incredible is that McIlroy has faced questions about winning this tournament for eleven years, ever since he won his third major.
For eleven years, he’s had one chance, one opportunity. This was everything he ever wanted. One moment.
Did he let it slip?

Kind of. A few times, actually.
But he kept showing up.
He played his game.
He practiced.
He answered the same questions year after year from journalists asking if this was finally his year.
Everyone believed he’d eventually win.

You could see it in the moment he finally did.
The release of eleven years of emotion, of effort, of trying to do something that probably felt impossible.
But he showed up anyway.
Every year, he gave it his best, and now he’s done it.

Interestingly, just before heading into a playoff for the title, his caddy said to him, as he was visibly frustrated,
"You would have taken this on Monday,".
Implying that just a week ago, Rory would have been happy to even have a shot at the win.

I think both of these people are not just examples of why I love sport, but reminders of the power of knowing yourself, having the right mindset, and persevering.

There was no evidence that when I started shooting, I would be any good.
There was no evidence that my first exhibition would lead me to becoming an artist.
There was no evidence that my first commercial shoot would lead to more work.

But over time, with practice, and by just showing up, I got better.
I made work I was happy with, and I kept going.
I made work I was proud of, and I kept going.

None of what I’m doing now happens without everything I’ve done.
It’s the ten thousand hours, the one million photos, that make me who I am today, not my last photo or my next.
They are the result of all I have done, and all I will continue to do.

I will keep showing up, like McIlroy, like Ned.
Both of them reached the finish lines they were chasing.
But the finish line doesn’t mean it’s over.
It just moves.

I think the Rocky quote is a perfect analogy for this:
"It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done."

And to quote another popular figure, who may now be more famous than the dog breed, Pitbull:
"Pasos cortos, vista larga."
"Small steps, long vision."

Thanks everyone. Whatever your goal is, no matter the size or the scale, keep going.

Love to all,
Adam

Please see below for Gaoth II and Gaoth III which I released this week