Windfall (n): An unexpected, unearned, or sudden gain or advantage
How We Think Life Works
Basic cause and effect says that when X happens, Y follows. Most causes have an immediate and obvious effect. Touch a hot stove, and your skin burns. Throw a rock in the air, and it falls back down. Sing too loudly in the shower, and everyone else will leave the house with their hands over their ears.
There are, however, exceptions to this rule. The effect can be delayed and unevenly distributed, and that can really throw us off.
The natural assumption: work, result, work, result, work, result
How it often happens: work, work, work, work, work, work, windfall result
Here are a few personal examples.
In middle school, I had excessive acne and loved it. It was embarrassing. I developed social anxiety as a result, which varied in intensity in the following years. Fast forward to just four years ago: I had the biggest breakdown of my life, which led to crippling general anxiety (feeling nervous for no reason even when alone), and that worsened my social anxiety.
Over these last four years, I've worked hard to increase my comfort level in general and in social situations. To be specific, I've developed better habits, have been more active, and put myself in more social situations (there's no replacement for practice). But the really odd thing is how and when I saw results.
Fairly recently, it felt like a switch was flipped in my brain, and since then, I've felt completely comfortable and relaxed in social situations. Some of my progress over the last four years was gradual, but this was a huge leap that seemingly happened overnight. It was a true windfall after years of effort. I think it's super strange to happen like this, but I've been enjoying it!
I also had a windfall with this blog. After 2.5 years, I only had 440 subscribers. Over the next six months, it exploded with 4,000 more subscribers. Today, there are almost 12,000 Deep Existence subscribers.
Mini Habits has been extremely successful by any metric, and the idea came as a windfall. I had been analyzing personal growth for 10 years with various ideas; one day I bumped my shin on this new strategy that's been a game changer. It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been focused on personal growth for a decade!
When I look back on the good things in my life, many of them were windfall gains after sustained hard work with minimal gains.
Potential Windfall Areas
Businesses: A new product takes off, an older product takes off, you have a new idea or creative breakthrough that changes everything. It will only happen if you have a business (you're in the game).
Fitness: After not seeing much of a difference in the mirror, you notice a pretty big difference one day. Or after plateauing on the bench press for some time, you're suddenly able to do more. It will only happen if you're exercising (you're in the game).
Weight loss: I'm not talking about unhealthy rapid weight loss strategies. If you do it the right way, you might not notice a difference immediately or gradually. You might notice waves of improvement. It will only happen if you're actively pursuing a healthier lifestyle (you're in the game).
Skill development: Have you ever tried learning a new song on guitar or piano, and after seemingly making little progress try after try, suddenly it clicks? It will only happen if you practice (you're in the game).
Investing: You could invest in a stock that returns an outsized gain. If you had invested just a little bit of money in Microsoft in the 90s, you would have gotten a ridiculous return. I bought an Apple option about 8 years ago that returned 1000%. In order for this to be possible, of course, you must invest (you're in the game).
Why This Matters
First, I find it very exciting. Windfall results are a so much fun when they happen. It's a pleasant surprise.
Second, it can be encouraging to know about the potential of windfall gains when you're putting in the work and not getting satisfactory results right away. If you're not aware of the windfall effect and you don't see early results, you're going to be very tempted to quit. It seems logical to quit if you believe results always come in an orderly manner and you aren't getting any early results, as that suggests that the results will never come.
One More Story of a Windfall Gain
The formula for windfall gains is consistency, persistence, and focusing your energy on fewer pursuits. Here's a story of a struggling artist whose work culminated in a windfall event.
"John Dolan had been living on the streets 20 years when he met the London gallery owner and art-tour organizer who would change his fortune. Dolan's life had spiraled into poverty and crime when he traded a can of beer for George, a Staffordshire bull terrier.
Sketching pictures of his beloved pet brought him comfort.
Soon, he was sketching scenes from around town, capturing London cityscapes and selling his works for whatever he could get for them on the street.
That is, until he met Richard Howard-Griffin.
The gallery owner arranged the first showing of Dolan's work, and the rest, as they say, is history. Dolan has since been featured on Ellen's blog and is now selling his sketches for $5,000 or more apiece. He's also written a book and had more shows in London and Los Angeles."
~ Larry Kim via inc.com
This concept is not to be confused with "go big or go home" or always aiming for the home run hit. There are times to try for the big win, but in my experience, those times will present themselves after you've practiced getting small wins.
John Dolan didn't do anything besides dabble in artwork and show up to see if he could sell it. He wasn't trying to get on Ellen's blog. He certainly wasn't initially selling his art for $5,000 per sketch. John was fortunate to get a windfall opportunity, but those who consider these windfalls to be sheer luck are missing the point—in order to get a "lucky" windfall, you must be in the game. It's not "the lucky people" who get windfalls, it's the persistent people who get lucky.
I hope this raises your awareness to the very real possibility of windfall successes. Windfalls aren't guaranteed to come, but they're practically guaranteed not to come if you remain passive. Let's continue to show up every day and make ourselves available to receive them if we are so fortunate.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours!
Cheers,
Stephen Guise
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