Matthew Farber

     There is an old story of a stone cutter. When the man hits the stone for the first time, nothing happens. When he hits the stone for the second time, nothing happens. When he hits it for the third time, nothing happens. When he hits it for the ninety-ninth time, nothing happens. But, when he hits it for the one hundredth time, the stone finally cracks. Yet, the wise man knows that it wasn’t the one hundredth hit that cracked the stone, but the ninety nine hits that came before it.

     The elite understand the process of becoming great, the patience it requires, and they execute it. Those who are good understand the long journey of becoming great, but aren’t willing to do all of what it takes to arrive at the final destination. Those who are infinitely mediocre ignore the process, expect results overnight, and blame other people when they don’t get them. Want to be great? Trust the process. Pound the stone.

     Once you begin to crack one stone, it will become easier and easier, until that stone is completely demolished. And once that stone is demolished, another one appears. Just like becoming elite, pounding the stone is a never ending effort. Some days are hard, and it may even feel like you are going backwards. But as long as you are out there working, you are pounding the stone. Even on your worst days, you are hacking away at the stone and diminishing the time until it cracks.

     One of the most painful things to see is someone quitting because they aren’t getting the results they want right now. Little do they know, they could be one day, week, or month away from getting their stone to crack. But because they quit, they’ll never know how close they truly were. We never know when the stone will crack; we just know that it will. And that understanding is what keeps the greats going.