Never underestimate how complex making a change can be.
Things are rarely zero to one.
You’ll go backwards, sideways, shoot forwards and then come to a dead halt. All before change happens.
Take this graph as an example. This is Boltjobs.com website traffic over the last two years:
How about this one? My weight tracked since June last year:
Progression is never linear.
It’s easy to forget when you’re in the trenches or stuck in the doldrums.
I love this quote from Rocky:
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!
I had this stuck on my wall for years.
Life is never easy, there are always areas of challenge, particularly if the desire to progress is baked in.
The good news is that you can get comfortable with discomfort. If you want to progress, you should seek discomfort.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were you.
Your life is one long, tough build.
Whenever I’m grinding, I just think of my dad. He ran a plastering business as a sole trader. He often worked 7 days per week.
Just before I was born, he spent over a year building our house.
Single-handedly.
Whilst running his business full-time. And he was in an exhausting physical job.
My family lived in a caravan on the front lawn until 2 months before I was born.
Now that’s grinding.
He did that, so I can hit keys and talk for a living.
I have it easy.
What part of your house are you building today?
Is it tough?
Good, it’s probably worth it.
P.S. he spent the next 25 years working on the house, it was never truly finished.
image attribution: Photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash
