Hello there friend.
Welcome to the last edition of September.
This time, to round up the content, I have a relevant topic to share with you.
Wanna know what it is?
Well, let’s get into it.
Main quest 🛡
What do you do when you take on a new challenge or work towards a goal?
Do you go “all in” with full enthusiasm at the start, keeping it for a while, until it subsides dropping the activity altogether.
Or…
You start with small manageable steps and actions that are sustainable over a longer time until the momentum picks up.
I ask because I’ve seen a dramatical increase in people who are the former.
It’s like the typical cycle of going back to the gym as a “new year resolution” for most people (which is a meme at this point).
And it’s hard to break that cycle living in our current “instant gratification” society.
Social media is not the only culprit. We see stories of “overnight successes” scrolling on Instagram/TikTok/(whatever app is in vogue). This makes us believe we’re a failure because it takes us waaayyy more time to get similar results.
But the reality is a lot more nuanced than that.
Most of those successes have like 8-10 years in the making. And the posts about the required daily work are not as appealing for the “algo” as the posts about hitting a milestone or accomplishing a goal.
If you recall from a previous post, there are 2 types of learners. The “traditional” and the “supercharged” ones.
Supercharged learners have a process akin to an exponential curve. There’s a period where you put in the effort and do the work again and again but see no results.
Nothing happens for a while. And that “while” can be anything from a couple of weeks to several months. (Heck, depending on the goal that extends through years.)
And then…
The exciting part comes.
We reach an inflection point, the often called “hockey stick effect”.
Here’s when the magic happens. All of a sudden, the hard work starts paying off and the results start piling up. Here’s when all that content that’s perfect for a “highlights reel” appear.
And you’ll get people commenting saying “Whoa, you’re so lucky!”. Or “I wish I could do the same”.
But what most people ignore is the journey between starting to do the thing and getting the results that most people want.
Here’s what’s relevant tho:
Can you stay consistent, putting the work day in and day out until you reach the goal?
Are you able to persevere though the obstacles and the periods of no growth, where it’s easier to throw in the towel than to keep going?
I battle with this often too. Seeing that I haven’t reached a point in which I have something that’s worth showing for all the months of consistent work I’ve put in.
It would be saner to follow the advice of my parents / close friends of “getting a regular job” to not “jeopardize my future” with these “online biz dreams”.
But despite all this…
You and I must keep going.
Cause we’re not only doing this for ourselves (our present and future selves).
We’re also doing it (even if we’re not aware) for the others out there who have no references to believe it’s possible.
And see that breaking free from the shackles of traditional education and the corporate world is not a death sentence.
Once we take this path and succeed in it, we’re also giving others the permission and encouragement to try it.
There’s more to life that we haven’t explored yet.
And like I always say, we are more capable than we know.
We all have to first realize it and then build the skills to take charge of our future.
I’ll leave you with this quote.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
And…
“As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Experiments 🧪
From this month’s ongoing experiment…
You might think I already have things dialed down and am very skilled with short exercises throughout the day.
The reality, however, is that on Monday I caught a cold. I’ve been on and off along the week. But I’ve had some physical challenges related to work activities on the mornings.
I keep the idea of using proper form for work activities and I’ve started to include a few pushups and squats during times when I had to wait for something to finish.
I’m hoping there won’t be any sudden weather changes so I can get a proper week of exercise without health hiccups.
To consider 🤔
Are you patient enough or you get anxious because you don’t see the results you expected soon enough?
It’s worth to often revisit this question and manage our own expectations accordingly.
That’s it for this time.
Next time we talk it’s going to be October and just 3 more months before the year draws to a close.
Have a dope Sunday.
Talk soon,
Juan.