Play the Long Game

“How did you go bankrupt?”

That’s the question posed by Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. The rather infamous reply? Two ways. Gradually then suddenly.

That’s how you go bankrupt, but that’s also how you get out of debt. That’s how you start a business, write a book, or run a marathon—and a thousand other things. That’s how entrepreneurs innovate, athletes win championships, and investors make bank. That’s how songwriters, filmmakers, and podcasters produce content. Regardless of craft or career, dreams don’t become reality overnight. Reverse engineer any success story, and I daresay it happened two ways—gradually then suddenly.

We love suddenly! Gradually? Not so much.

Destiny is a series of decisions—big decisions and little decisions, predecisions and daily decisions. And every decision has a domino effect. For better or for worse, we look more and more like our decisions every day. The good news? You are one decision away from a totally different life.

Your life is perfectly designed for the results you’re getting. If you don’t like who you are or where you are, don’t play the victim. Play the long game! If you do the right things day in and day out, God will show up and show off.

How Many Times Have You Tried?

Many years ago, I was part of a gathering at Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs honoring the life and legacy of author and pastor Eugene Peterson. Eugene pastored in Bel Air, Maryland, for nearly three decades. He also authored more than thirty books. I had the honor of endorsing his final book, As Kingfishers Catch Fire.

Eugene’s happy place was a cabin in Montana that his father built in 1947. He accumulated a lifetime of memories in that place, but that’s also where his imagination ran wild. That lake house is where Eugene would rest and recover from the wear and tear of leadership.

At the Glen Eyrie Castle gathering, Eugene told a story I will long remember. He was sitting on his dock one day, watching a kingfisher do what it does. As the name suggests, few birds are better at catching fish. Eugene actually counted the number of attempts it took. “It took thirty-seven tries to catch a fish,” said Eugene. “And he’s the kingfisher!” Eugene paused, then asked a pointed question: “How many times have you tried?”

Is there a dream you’ve given up on?

Is there a breakthrough you’ve stopped believing for?

Is there a miracle you’ve stopped praying for?

Most of us fail for lack of trying—we give up on gradually. When was the last time you tried something thirty-seven times? For the record, Eugene Peterson’s first book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, lived up to its title. “Seventeen publishers rejected it,” wrote Eugene. Even worse? “I was advised that it was irrelevant to the concerns of contemporary North Americans.”

Fast-forward a few decades and Eugene’s paraphrase of Scripture, The Message, has sold twenty million copies and counting. That is rare air in the publishing world, but let me ask the obvious question: What if Eugene had given up after the tenth or twelfth or seventeenth rejection letter? He would have gone to the grave with his music still inside him. Or maybe I should say, thirty books still inside him.

When you experience seventeen rejections, how do you react? Do you second-guess yourself? Or do you try, try again? When you fail thirty-six times, do you give up? Or do you double down? Only you can answer those questions!

What if the Israelites had quit circling Jericho on day six? What if Naaman had dipped in the Jordan River only six times? What if the disciples had stopped climbing the stairs to the upper room on day nine? The short answer is nothing. They would have left those miracles on the table. Those miracles are very different, but they happened the same way. They happened two ways—gradually then suddenly.

Is there a defining decision you need to make?

Is there a God-sized dream you need to go after?

What are you waiting for?

Adapted from Gradually Then Suddenly by Mark Batterson. Copyright © by Mark Batterson. Published by Multnomah, an imprint of the Penguin Random House Christian Publishing Group. Used by permission. Tune in to LIFE Today on Tuesday, October 13, and Thursday, October 15, to hear Mark Batterson share dynamic principles.