Like any self-respecting Victorian, I raised my kids on the AFL.
And even though I always cringe a little bit whenever I see a sports analogy, the combination of the Grand Final a couple of weeks ago and almost two years of home schooling came together a little too conveniently to ignore.
My boys are at that age when they’re both pretty sure that one day they’ll be playing in an AFL Grand Final themselves. They’re also at the age when they’re not that keen on doing their daily practice.
They want to play under the lights at the MCG – they don’t want do handball and kicking drills over and over.
It’s one of the life lessons I’ve been trying to teach them while we’re remote learning.
In the pursuit of getting better at something, we always talk about the end goal. We want to make Partner, to earn a certain amount, or to bring in the biggest clients.
What we often lose sight of is the smaller steps between the big leaps. We don’t just set goals and get there. There’s a lot to do in between.
The daily practice of handballs, marks and kicking on the run and from a standing start isn’t as sexy as the Grand Final, but without one there’s none of the other.
When setting goals for ourselves, the most important thing is doing the work and being consistent about it.
We can’t just say, “I’m going to make a bag of money and hook a big client.”
We need to show up everyday, do quality work and make our clients want to come back with bigger and better work.
The everyday things we do can feel monotonous, but it’s the consistency that will get us where we want to be.
Filling out a time sheet or drafting another similar contract for the fourth time this week isn’t as fun as having the nice corner office, but it helps to remember doing those things are what will get you there.
And if what I’m teaching my boys ends up with them getting a Brownlow and Premiership cup, it’ll be because they consistently practice their kicks, handballs and marks.