The problem is that the story usually leaves out everything that came before it.
After years of teaching and researching markets, I've become convinced that this is one of the most misunderstood parts of success.
So let's look at what's really happening underneath those big moments.
The Overnight Success That Took Years
Five thousand attempts. Each one was a little different and taught him something, but most ended in disappointment.
Nobody saw those fifteen years. They saw the finished product and called him an overnight success.
I see the same thing with students. They look at someone who tops the exam and decide that person must just be naturally brilliant. What they don't see is the ordinary, boring work that happened every day for years before the result showed up.
The talent story is easier to believe because it gives you an excuse. In reality, most people get better by doing the same thing again and again, making mistakes, and sticking with it long before anyone notices.
One Percent Better
Here's my favourite example of how small steps stack up.
In 2003, a man named Dave Brailsford took charge of British cycling, a team that had won almost nothing for decades. His whole philosophy was simple. Instead of chasing one big breakthrough, he tried to improve everything connected to cycling by just one percent.
None of these mattered much by itself.
But stacked together they added up to something enormous. Within about five years British cyclists were dominating the Olympics, and soon after they produced Britain's first ever winner of the Tour de France.
That's the part people miss. You almost never need one giant improvement. You need a hundred tiny ones, all pointed in the same direction.
The Power of Small Steps
This is where the numbers get beautiful, and where being a finance person actually helps.
If you get just one percent better at something every day, the maths says you don't end up one percent better after a year. You end up almost thirty-eight times better, because each small gain builds on the one before it.
And it works just as cruelly in the other direction. Get one percent worse every day, and after a year you're down to almost nothing.
We can watch this playing out across India right now in one of the clearest ways possible.
No single monthly instalment changes anyone's life. But small amounts, invested steadily and compounded over years, quietly build the kind of wealth a one-time lump sum rarely does. That is the whole logic of a SIP, and it happens to be the whole logic of learning too.
Consistency Beats Intensity
If small steps are this powerful, why do so few people stick with them? Because small steps are boring, and intensity feels heroic.
We would all rather do one fourteen-hour study marathon and feel great about it than quietly do two focused hours every single day. But the marathon student almost always loses to the daily one.
I tell my students the same thing every year. For example, someone who studies two hours every day will usually be much better prepared for an exam than someone who panics and crams once a month. Maybe nine times out of ten.
Don't focus on the rare person who studied at the last minute and still passed with flying colours. They're the exception. They might make up just one percent of students, or even less.
That doesn't mean you can't study in bursts. Sprints can work too. Study hard for two days and rest for two days, and you're fine. Study hard for two days and then do nothing for two months, and that's a problem.
The burst can be short. It just needs to happen regularly. What matters is who keeps showing up after the initial excitement is gone.
Start Here
This week, take some time to look at your habits. Three steps.
First, be honest about what has slipped. Which habits are still helping you, and which ones have started working against you? Maybe you stopped meditating. Maybe you stopped paying attention to what you eat. Maybe you used to wake up at six and follow a proper routine, but now you don't have one at all. Write down the habits that are holding you back, whether in your health or your studies.
Second, decide how you'll fix them. For each habit, choose one small change that can get you back on track. Don't try to change everything at once. Just take one step in the right direction.
Third, choose one new habit to start. Something that isn't on your list yet, but that you want to build into your routine.
Then track it. Use a habit tracker, a journal page, or anything you'll actually check. Mark it off every day you follow through.
Some days, you'll feel like doing more. That's great, go for it.
And some days, you'll slip. That's fine too. Just don't let a bad day turn into a bad week. Take a day or two off if you need to, then get back on track.
A year of that turns into the kind of giant leap other people will one day look at and mistake for talent.
Invest in yourself,
Aswini Bajaj