Why Greatness is Hard

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The best story in sports is the cinderella story.

It always comes out of nowhere. UMBC (#16 seed) upsets University of Virginia (#1 seed) in the big dance. Brock Purdy goes from Mr. Irrelevant (the last NFL draft pick) to leading the 49ers to the playoffs as a rookie. The 1980 US hockey team shocks the Soviets in the "Miracle on Ice." These stories encapsulate greatness. But they don't just happen in sports.

Everywhere you look, cinderella stories exist. Startups go from struggling to turn a profit to reaching an IPO. Comics go from hustling in underground NYC bars to Netflix specials. TikTok artists start with zero followers and become world-renowned superstars overnight. It may sound easy, but it's not. In each case, a metric shit ton of work was required. 

Too often, we lose touch with why cinderella stories happen in the first place. At some point in a person or organization's existence, a decision to be great was made. But that's not the special part. Anyone can make one decision to be great. True greatness occurs when a series of decisions to be great are made. Not across a couple of weeks or months but for years. That's how greatness is born.

Startups and professional athletes are great examples. The odds of an NCAA athlete going pro in their respective sport is about 2%. And for top VC-backed startups, the likelihood of reaching an IPO is less than 5%. In most cases, an aspiring college athlete and venture-seeking startup will not make it. But some do!

Airbnb is one company that made it. In 2007, the founders, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, were looking to make rent after finishing up school. They had a background in design and noticed a big design conference was coming to San Francisco – where they lived. Their idea? Rent out mattresses to people attending the conference. Just like that, Airbnb was born.

Chesky and Gebbia's mattress-sharing idea covered a little more than just rent. The company is now valued at $64B. But it hasn't always been smooth sailing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole travel industry shut down. When asked how Airbnb weathered the storm, founder Brian Chesky said it's about viewing crisis as an opportunity.

Viewing crisis as an opportunity to grow is not the first idea in everyone's playbook. But it's what great companies, teams, athletes, and top performers do. When everyone else sees a challenge, the best see an opportunity.

In high school, I wanted to play D1 college baseball. I was obsessed. But at the beginning of my senior year, it wasn't looking good. A few opportunities fell through, and I didn't play my best during summer ball (when everyone gets recruited). For reference, most D1 college baseball players commit as juniors in high school or earlier.

At that point, it would have been easy to give up on my D1 dreams and go to a junior college or D2. But I stayed determined. I missed parties and big weekends in high school to attend baseball tournaments. I went to the gym multiple times per week and did everything I could to network my way to a D1 program (thanks for the help, mom & dad).

After fall league and early-season games, I'd wait until everyone cleared out, set up a tee, and hit. Nobody was around. It was just me, a giant baseball field, and my thoughts. And most mornings, I'd drive to my teammate's house to hit before school. Every day, I showed up and put myself in a position to succeed. I didn't know if it would work out, but I believed it could.

It wasn't until spring – when the season was already underway – that my work started to show. Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, and the University of Portland called – in the same week – expressing their interest. Excited by the developments, I tried not to get too worked up. I was playing well, hitting above .350, and our team was racking up wins. Things were heading in the right direction.

After a week or two, I got another call from the coach at the University of Portland. He called to tell me he was flying down to see me play in our spring tournament. I remember hanging up the phone, blasting Rockstar by Nickelback, and singing in excitement at the top of my lungs. I was so pumped.

Hitting fast forward, the coach that came and saw me play at our spring tournament ended up being my coach at the University of Portland the following year. I was a senior when I committed, and there were less than 100 days until I was scheduled to graduate! It came down to the wire, but I did it.

For the first 3.5 years of high school, I received little to no interest from D1 programs. But with a lot of faith and consistent work, I defied the odds and made it to a Division I college baseball program. It was my first taste of what is required to be great.

So what's the common denominator? What enables greatness?

Cinderella stories, the rise of Airbnb, and my path to becoming a college baseball player share one thing in common: overcoming discomfort. I know what you're thinking, "how cliche of you, Noah." But hear me out.

Discomfort is what we feel when we do hard things. It's what we fight against on our path to greatness. As a result, your greatness correlates directly with your ability to work through discomfort. It's an essential skill and a commonality in every cinderella story and personal triumph.

Working with and overcoming discomfort is how Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia built a $64B company. It's how Brock Purdy went from the last pick in the NFL draft to having the best rookie season in 49ers history. And it's how I went from an average high school baseball player to leading the state of California in RBIs (runs batted in) for my position and securing a spot on a D1 roster.

Overcoming discomfort isn't rocket science. If you're reading this, you're likely ambitious or have a goal lingering in your mind. That's good. The only thing between you and making that mental image a reality is work. And to work is to overcome discomfort. When it gets tough, remember that discomfort is the prerequisite for getting shit done in this world. It's supposed to be hard.

Not everyone wants to be a professional athlete or create a billion-dollar company. And that's okay! I'm not claiming everyone should. But everyone can be great, no matter where you are or what you do. And if the world has a few more people, or companies, choosing to be great, we will all benefit from it.

After all, great people make life great.

Keep crushing.

Cheers,

Noah Cracknell

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