marathon mindset in a sprinter's world - JUN #21

The Daily Laws - Robert Greene - June 21st - the slow power grab.

Everyone talks about making power moves.

But nobody talks about patience moves.

Caught your attention now… huh?

About being so secure in where you’re going that you don’t need to announce the arrival.

The people holding the strongest power, the strongest energy I know, changing the world, don’t explode into the room.

Their energy isn’t loud and crazy (I’m having Geordie Shore flashbacks), but it is powerful than most…
It doesn’t demand attention.
It earns influence
It seeps into the cracks.
It moves subtly… not to deceive, but to align, until resistance or opposing views soften into support.

It doesn't fight for the spotlight, it becomes the foundation no one questions.

Robert Greene writes:

And honestly?
That’s the genius of it.

If you want people to back your words, your vision, your mission…
You need to back your people - not control them.
Support them.
You’ll see the difference.

Don’t blatantly grab power.
Why should they trust you? If you want a little.. give a little.
Grow their trust for you.
One decision.
One boundary.
One carefully delayed reaction at a time.

This isn’t about being manipulative. It’s about being emotionally strategic, and magnetic.
It’s the difference between needing to win now vs. knowing you’ll win eventually.

Someone I love dearly had recently told me: ‘do it on your own terms’… and I couldn’t agree more. It will take time, but it will be worth it.

Real power is just like real progress.

Nobody becomes strong overnight.
No one meal will make you fat.
No one workout will make you skinny.
It’s about the reps… daily reps, done consistently, over time.
Especially when no one is watching.

Same with work.
You don’t land your dream role on day one.
You build toward it… through failed pitches, pointless meetings, internships, rejections, trial-and-error leadership moments.
Until one day, someone calls you the expert.
And you realise… they’re right.

Same with relationships.
You don’t build deep trust in the highlight reel moments.
You build it in the mundane.
In the hard stuff.
In showing up during thin seasons.
The inside jokes, the shared grief, the slip ups, the quiet apologies, the holding on when it would’ve been easier to walk away.

The point is:
Power that lasts isn’t about impact.
It’s about accumulation.

Alfred Hitchcock didn’t storm his way into control.
He didn’t kick down the door. He let others open it for him.

He played the long game.
Letting screenwriters feel they were in charge, until, revision by revision, his vision quietly became the only one on the table.

He didn’t have to raise his voice.
He just raised the standard… slowly, steadily, until there was no going back.

A little bit like your dog (or cat) sleeping in bed with you…
Stretching onto your side of the bed.
Inch-by-inch.
Adjusting.
Stretching.
Pushing up against you just that little bit more… for hours throughout the night.
Until you scoot so much that you’re hanging off the edge of the bed looking like a hiker sleeping of a side of a mountain (no amount of money could convince me to do this, and yet I let my chocolate labrador push me into this position every night), and at that point, you didn’t realise when exactly this happened but they’re the one in control.

And this is the story of so many people you admire.

They didn’t force it.
They just didn’t stop showing up.

And that’s the same story behind almost every so-called “overnight success” you’ve seen.

It looks like they came out of nowhere… like they were the lucky pick of the algorithm, like the stars just aligned.
But what you didn’t see were the years of obscurity.
The songs no one streamed.
The art no one reposted.
The ideas no one clapped for.

And maybe you’re currently reading the work of one… wether it’s this, me, or someone else on your substack. Because just because someone’s work hasn’t been over popularised, over consumed or gone mainstream yet… it doesn’t mean their art isn’t great.
Maybe you’re watching one of the greats in the making.
Maybe you’re one of the greats in the making…?

You didn’t see Doechii uploading YouTube videos long before Persuasive hit the charts.
You didn’t see Doja Cat making SoundCloud tracks in her bedroom before Mooo! went viral.
You didn’t see the failure.
The flops.
The 1% improvements.
The inch-by-inch evolution.

But just because you didn’t see it, it doesn’t mean the work wasn’t done.

That’s how it works.
That’s how power is built.
Slowly.
Silently.
Strategically.

By the time it arrives in the spotlight, it looks inevitable.
But it was earned… long before it was seen.

You won’t get fitter overnight.
You won’t earn lasting respect by announcing it.
You won’t build the perfect relationship through chemistry alone.

You’ll get there (wherever your “there” is) by living in the thick of it.
By waking up every day and adding one more brick.
By being there when it’s boring, when it’s heavy, when it’s quiet.

The people who stick with the process are the ones who win the power.
Because they become undeniable.
Not all at once. But bit by bit.

So if your rise feels slow?
Good.
That means it’s real.

Don’t chase the fast grab.
Build the slow claim.
Let them underestimate you.
Until the day they realise… you were the one leading the whole time.

Not with force.
But with presence.
With consistency.
With the power of a marathoner mindset in a sprinter’s world.

Power isn’t taken.
It’s trained into.
Like muscle.
Like loyalty.
Like trust.

So take your time.
Stay on track.
Keep doing the reps.

And soon, they’ll look up and see you standing where you always planned to be,
with no big announcement, no ego… just quiet, earned power.

Just a thought.

- Kornelia

:)

P.S - I never do this but I think she deserves a more honourable mention and a second chance at the bad rep I just created for her. Meet my queen, my baby, my girl (a potato of a dog)… Ebony 👇 (you’re welcome).