Growth Takes Time, But Happens Quickly
“You don’t wait for the moment. You build until it finds you.”
- CoachC
We’ve been conditioned to associate growth with the result—new roles, bigger responsibilities, increased performance, and more visible success. What gets overlooked is everything that comes before those shifts—the time when nothing flashy is happening. No titles are changing. No milestones are being posted. Just slow, consistent, often unnoticed work is being done behind the scenes.
That’s where the real growth takes place—not in the headlines, but in the habits.
People talk about breakthroughs like they happen overnight. They rarely do. What looks sudden from the outside usually isn’t. The ground has been shifting quietly for a while. A pattern has been forming. The foundation has been laid. You just couldn’t see it yet.
In my career, I’ve experienced this firsthand. As a high school coach, I needed to find a secret weapon that would consistently produce a steady stream of athletes coming up through the system. I didn’t step into the spotlight. I stepped into the shadows and did the work no one sees. I studied performance deeper than ever before. I revisited everything I thought I knew about movement, about strength, about preparation. At times, it felt like progress was crawling. But that was the price of building something that could last. And when new opportunities finally came—ones that seemed big from the outside—I wasn’t surprised because I had been preparing long before the moment arrived. And with the opportunities, I applied all of the knowledge I had earned, and championships followed.
This is where leadership gets it wrong. Too many chase speed. Too few commit to foundation. They want the result without the reps. The growth without the grind. And that’s precisely why they aren’t ready when it finally hits.
The Work No One Claps For
There’s a phase in every meaningful pursuit where you’re putting in more than you’re getting out. You’re repeating systems, reinforcing values, reviewing details that don’t feel urgent, but they’re essential. I’ve trained athletes and guided professionals through that space. The ones who stick with it, who stay steady when the scoreboard doesn’t change—those are the ones who are dangerous when the moment finally arrives.
That same principle applies in leadership. A business doesn’t become agile because of a clever rebrand. It becomes agile because its people have been learning, adjusting, training, and listening—long before a crisis forced them to. Those who stay committed to the slow parts of growth are the ones who can capitalize when things speed up.
Opportunity Favors the Prepared, Not the Lucky
People are always asking how to get ready for sudden opportunities. But the honest answer is simple: stop trying to predict them. Just do the work. Build the skill. Lay the foundation. Carry the standard. Every single day.
I’ve never been one to chase recognition. But I’ve always trained like someone would notice. Whether it was a new program, a keynote, or a consult—I never assumed I’d get the shot, but I made damn sure I’d be ready if I did. That’s not arrogance. That’s professional responsibility.
Years ago, I got a last-minute call to step in for a speaker who had to cancel. I wasn’t even on the backup list. But someone in the room knew me. They’d seen the work. Heard the way I spoke about leadership off-stage. I didn’t ask for the moment, but I was ready when it showed up. And it launched an entirely new lane for my business.
Growth often appears when you least expect it, and it happens quickly. The people who try to ramp up after it arrives are the ones who get passed over. Those who stay ready? They move straight through the open door. No scrambling. No self-doubt. Just execution.
Build the Platform Before the Jump
Real growth can’t stand on a weak foundation. You can get quick wins, but they won’t last if the internal structure is shaky. That’s true in sport. It’s true in business. It’s true in leadership.
I’ve worked with teams and organizations that wanted to scale but lacked the necessary culture and clarity to support their ambitions. They were reaching for bigger targets that weren’t in their wheelhouse, with systems built for yesterday. It wasn’t a matter of ambition—it was a matter of foundation.
If you’re serious about growth, stop obsessing over how fast it can happen. Start investing in whether your people, your systems, and your values can handle it when it does. The growth isn’t coming on your timeline. But it is coming. And when it hits, it moves quickly. The question is whether you’ll be ready or exposed.
Growth Is Slow Until It’s Not
There is nothing exciting about the early stages of growth. It’s quiet. It’s repetitive. It’s often uncomfortable. But it’s necessary. And it’s real.
Then, without warning, things shift. The preparation starts paying off. The consistency becomes visible. And the results—once slow and frustrating—start arriving faster than you can explain them.
But let’s not kid ourselves. That speed? That momentum? It’s not luck. It’s the payoff for every day you showed up, every standard you held, and every moment you chose to build instead of wait.
Growth takes time. But when it’s done right, it doesn’t hesitate.
