The Penultimate Step: The Moment Before Breakthrough

The crowd is waiting. The relay is set. You’ve trained for this moment, but one wrong step during the race can cost you everything.

I was a sprinter at Kansas State University. Speed was my identity, discipline my language, and winning my goal.

My first major injury came while preparing for a meet at UCLA. I remember hearing the legendary coach Bob Kersee shouting to Olympic champions Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith-Joyner (Flo-Jo):

“Knees up, heel to butt!”

I wanted that same drive, that same form, that same fire. So I tried to copy it.

During a relay race, I tore my left hamstring.

The next year, I tore my right hamstring.

The year after that, torn cartilage in my knee and a popliteal cyst, likely from overworking my leg during recovery.

Three years. Three injuries. One lesson I couldn’t avoid:

Sometimes your greatest drive can become your greatest danger.

I wasn’t failing for lack of effort, I was failing because I didn’t understand rhythm, timing, or rest. I was trying to skip the penultimate step.

In track, that step isn’t about speed; it’s about control. It’s where power is gathered and properly released. But I overcompensated and lost that control.

And that mindset didn’t just break my body, it shaped how I would later lead, build, and eventually burn out.

That’s what the penultimate step represents. It’s the moment before breakthrough, the space where you have to trust timing over talent, patience over pressure.

In leadership, in business, and in life, we often injure ourselves the same way I did, pushing past rhythm in the name of results. We call it hustle. We call it passion. But sometimes, it’s just panic with good PR.

Everyone wants to talk about the finish line. But the truth is, your success doesn’t start there. It starts in the steps before — the ones that test your restraint, your maturity, and your trust in the process.

So if you’re in that stage right now, the one that feels like waiting, refining, or recovering, don’t rush it. You might not see it yet, but that’s the step that determines everything that comes next.

Because the breakthrough that changes your life often begins one step before the finish line.