Breathe...
As we go into April and start the second Quarter, I would like you to Breathe. You cannot be everything you want to be before your time...
Every first day of the month, I send you a letter focused on helping you become the best you. You can subscribe here so you do not miss any letters:
Many times, we want life fast. There is a rush. We want fast results and quick wins. We want to have started living the life of our dreams yesterday. We want to make a name for ourselves overnight. We start new initiatives or businesses, and we expect linear growth.
But sadly, life often does not work that way, and we end up putting too much pressure on ourselves.
So, we become agitated when things are not happening as quickly as we want them to. We get frustrated when the journey is not going according to our plans. We feel stuck when life is not meeting our expectations. And we start to feel like we are not making any progress. We may start to doubt ourselves and want to give up. We ask ourselves, what is the point of it all?
However, we forget that this journey called life is a marathon, not a sprint. We forget that great things take time; success takes time. We forget that the most powerful outcomes are often delayed, as is the hallmark of any compounding process.
Complaining about not seeing results or achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from twenty-five degrees to thirty-one degrees.
Imagine that you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you. The table is cold, and you can see your breath. It is currently twenty-five degrees. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up.
Twenty-six degrees
Twenty-seven
Twenty-eight
The ice cube is still sitting on the table in front of you.
Twenty-nine degrees
Thirty
Thirty-one
Still, nothing has happened.
Then, thirty-two degrees. The ice begins to melt. A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked a huge result.
Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change or result. 1
So, this letter is for you, Mr. & Ms. Ambitious, Go-getter, and Achiever.
It is to assure you that, indeed, you are making progress. It may not look like it; there is no visible evidence. But you are growing. You have only just been growing underground. You are building capacity and character for when the results come. Your work and efforts are not wasted; they are just being stored.
As we go into April and start the second Quarter, I would like you to Breathe…
You cannot be everything you want to be before your time.
Where you are right now may not make sense to you, but you are right where you need to be at this particular time. It may look like the world is moving on and leaving you behind. But stay the course.
Keep doing the right things, the relevant things. Keep pursuing those goals and dreams. Keep grinding. Keep improving. Keep getting better one day at a time. Keep building the right systems. Keep cultivating the right habits and practices. Keep giving the best you can every single day. You owe yourself that. And the results will come.
Trust the process, trust your journey. Consistency always trumps talent in the end.
Remember, it is a marathon, not a sprint. And you are doing just fine!
Breathe…
Love and Light,
O’Seye
P.S. If you found this helpful, please, like and/or leave a comment, and share to help someone else.
Culled from Atomic Habits by James Clear, but with a few edits.