When a striking event occurs seemingly all of a sudden, our first reaction may be to think that it was random or merely lucky. We often lack context for what led to this dramatic moment.

I was recently engaged in a rather deep conversation with a senior leader around leadership progression and opportunity. His career is on an upward trajectory and others have noticed. When discussing what it took in time, effort and progressive experience to reach this higher level, he made a statement that I’ll always remember:

“All of sudden takes a long time.”

Indeed it does. Whether it’s a world-class performance, a promotion, or any manner of remarkable achievement, its first appearance to the public may come as a surprise. To those who mistakenly view accomplishment as lucky, I’ve found that the luckiest people tend to be the purposeful ones — those who are ready when it’s time.

Inevitably, ‘sudden’ success has been preceded by a story of determination, study, practice, sustained effort and an uncanny ability to get back up when knocked down by rough and tumble life experiences. The ultimate result comes back to whether the person was willing to Pay the Price along the way; the bigger the achievement, the greater the effort.

It’s those long days and sleepless nights that mark how a long time feels. It may also be the sore muscles, bruised ego and tiredness that was experienced during the journey that mark the path. Often it comes back to sustained effort when the only person in the world you were doing it for was you. Whatever the myriad ways such relentless effort shows up, we’ll find (only if we ask) that there is an enduring Core Purpose inside — one tied to a Worthwhile Goal that somehow kept you going.

It’s pure joy to watch principled and talented people realize their goals ‘all of a sudden’, especially when you learn the life story beyond the person. Winners in life possess a consistent ability to Maximize the Moment on a regular basis.

Tempus Maximize!