Nothing comes from nowhere. Everything is created by someone or something. Anything that you admire that was created by someone is hours upon hours of work and years of practice. There are also the things we don’t see. Anybody who is great at what they do, anybody who is the best at what they do have struggled, have had failures, have thought about quitting and had self-doubt. There are the exception, of course, the ones that have most of the things handed to them. However, the exceptions do not stay great for a long time. They are a flash in the pan, and one hit wonder because they never learned how to be great, they never had to put the work in, the sacrifices, the failures and the redemptions. They might be admired for a short while but they are forgotten just as fast and they are few and far between.
The greatest of them have had more lows than highs. Hank Aaron, known for hitting more home runs than any other player for three decades struck out more time than he hit the ball. Steph Curry, one of the best three point shooter in basketball, misses more than half of the three point shots he attempts. The difference between the everyday people and the great athletes and business people, they do not quit. They learn from their mistakes. They do not feel ashamed of not succeeding because they know its part of the process. Once they acquire the lesson they forget about the mistake and move on to the next task.
Remember results take time. Do not give up even if you don’t see results right away. If you have a vision of what the end results will look like and that makes you feel good and inspires you to be a better person, keep going. Do it for you. Do not do it for fame and money. Trust and enjoy the process because that is 99.9% of it.
If your actions are not hurting anyone and making you a better person while nobody around you understands what you are doing, keep going. If you can’t see the benefits why you are doing something and doubt starts to creep in, trust the process. Whatever you are doing, there are benefits elsewhere that you might not see right away. Opportunities will come eventually. You’ll wonder if it’s because of all the things you’ve done in the past to get better or if it was just destiny. You’ll never know for sure but a part of you will feel it is because of all the work you put in prior.
Always come back to it if it’s making you a better person. Keep it up if it makes you feel alive because that what life is about, living.
Take care.