The gift of Olympic athletes and Simone Biles

Hello! I'm really enjoying the Olympics. Every four years (...or five years in strange times) watching these athletes compete is so inspiring to me. These athletes train every day for a chance to shine once every four years. Imagine that feedback loop! Sure, you can see results quickly IN your training – gains made, changes paying off...but you don't get the feedback and recognition from the world for years. But, day in and day out, you're making choices for that payoff years down the line. Doesn't that fire you up? People at the peak of their sport, their passion, focusing and working hard DAILY to do the best they can...four years in advance. Who am I to get bored, impatient, and frustrated with my work after a few months or even a couple of years of effort? And my feedback loop is much shorter. I can be recognized at any time if the stars align. It's such a great reminder that we are on a journey here. Great things take time. Sacrifices need to be made. And if you can't see yourself dedicating time to this work for four years...you're probably not going to get the outcome that you want. And then Simone Biles inspired me in a totally new, unexpected way. In the qualifying rounds, she was posting the highest scores in the field on a bad day. Can you imagine being so good at what you do that even when you aren't performing close to your best, you're still head and shoulders above the field? And then in the Finals...she drops out. She drops out because she knew she couldn't give her team her best. Not only that, but she needed to give herself the time and space she to recover. I won't pretend to know everything about her situation, and that isn't the point. What we do know is that Simone Biles stepped aside because that was right for her, her team, and her country. On the world's BIGGEST stage she took the time and space she needed. Over the last few weeks, I've been running around with my hair on fire trying to keep up with all the things I've committed to. I told some friends this week, "I have to be working all the time, and the things I'm committed to aren't easy for me declare task bankruptcy and let go." What the heck am I talking about? Am I really not willing to give myself time and space to recover because this thing or that thing is too important for me to let slide? I really can't just decide not to publish for a week? This internal pressure has been productive...but not always healthy. I think we can all relate to being at a point when we realize we need time and space to rest, heal, and recover. We need to be kind to ourselves, listen to our minds and bodies, even if we have that voice in the back of our head telling us that THE WORLD WILL END if we don't deliver on our commitments. The world won't end. Not only is that time and space a gift to yourself, but it can be a gift to others – Simone stepped aside and Suni Lee stepped forward to become an Olympic Gold Medalist. If she can do that on the world's biggest stage, and after years of preparing for that moment...I think we can too. ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ On Creative Elements 👨‍🔬 [Chris Sutherland on Creative Elements](​ Chris Sutherland is a former collegiate Physics professor turned full-time content creator. Chris began [posting videos to TikTok]() in January 2020, quickly going viral and building an audience of more than 2 million followers. Chris parlayed that audience into 144K+ Instagram followers, 60K YouTube subscribers, and 30K followers on Twitter too. Today, Chris is building a new TikTok profile focused on crypto and building an online course too. In this episode, we talk about Chris’s path to becoming a collegiate professor, how Humor helped him grow his TikTok audience so quickly, the differences from Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, why he left academia, and what’s next for him. ​[Click here to listen](​ ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ I was absolutely blown away by the feedback I received on my piece last week about [simplifying how I describe my work](. It's crazy how you just strike a chord sometimes and people really let you know. It's why I love creating! So thank you to everyone who reached out with a note of encouragement. As I've flirted with my own burnout over the last few weeks, it's feedback from YOU that really keeps me going. I hope YOU have the energy and excitement to keep going on your work too. But if you don't...take some time to rest and recover. You'll be happier for it, the world will give you grace, and I bet your work will be better for it too. Have a great week! Cheers, Jay PS: After a lot of great feedback on my [Community Building Crash Course](), I'm hosting a follow up workshop on [Memberships & Advanced Community Building](). If you're interested in community and/or memberships, you won't want to miss it! ​ ​ 0 of 3 You're just 3 referrals away from unlocking Access to Life In Progress Next Reward Access to Life In Progress Life In Progress is a private, monthly newsletter that shares a deeper look at the life side of work-life balance. While Work In Progress documents what I'm learning about work, Life In Progress gives a transparent look into what I'm learning about living and becoming a better human. Available Rewards Life In Progress Access (3 refs) $50 off any course (10 refs) Free 1:1 Strategy Call (25 refs) Free Course + Public Shoutout (100 refs) [Share Work In Progress]() Shareable link: [ Want to skip the referrals? [Subscribe to Life In Progress for $5/mo](). [Powered by SparkLoop](=) ​ Thanks for subscribing! 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