“Madam, it took my whole life.”

Have you heard the story about Pablo Picasso sketching in the park? The one where he’s approached by a woman who recognizes him and is mesmerized by the idea of Picasso doing her portrait. The legend, which you may already know, says that after Picasso agreed to do her portrait. He produced a small piece of art in just five minutes. She loved it.

“Five thousand francs, madam.”

She was appalled. Furious, she asks him how he could ask for such a wage for a piece of art, even as much as she liked it, that took just five minutes to produce. Famously, Picasso replied, “Madam, it took my whole life.”

This weekend is the contemporary version of the Picasso story. After all, how does Floyd Mayweather earn $300 million just for one fight? Madam, or sir, I’d like to remind you that this is $300 million for his entire life. The $300 million price tag is for the 49-0 record. Forty-nine professional victories, forty-nine training camps, and countless dinners that he didn’t get to have and movies he didn’t get to see. It doesn’t stop there, did you know that Mayweather had an extensive amateur career? He was 84-8 as an amateur. Ninety-two times he went through an entire training camp, the stress of training, and walked into a ring to fight a worthy opponent for free. He’d even later win a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics. His first professional bout came in 1996, more than a decade ago. Oh, and he was still hadn’t earned a cent for being one of the best in the world at his craft.

We forget that if our perspective is short-sided, we might accumulate a great deal of birthdays without developing a cumulative body of work. With this mindset, you surely won’t develop a body of work you can create remarkable value with.

Are you living in a way that allows you a return not just on tomorrow’s effort, but your entire life’s effort? The great ones do. It takes courage to build a lifelong case for yourself. While I’m not old enough to speak from experience, it seems like it’s worth the hype. See you in the ring!

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach