Your next project will start slowly but please stick with it

This post serves primarily as a reminder to myself but also a prompt to you to keep going when things don’t look promising as you start out with something new.

Every project needs a lot of effort and will give back little in reward in the early stages.

We start new projects hoping they’ll make an impact and a good reception. In fact, that is one of the main reasons we begin with most new projects.

However, most of the time this goal is not instant and takes time to reach. In 2020 we expect results quickly and find it hard to work hard on something before we see the outcome we want at the beginning. We seem inept at grinding towards our goals and many of us give up too early.

How are we supposed to reach our goals if we give up before we get there?

A lot of our modern goals are hard to attain and take a lot time to accomplish. The 100k salary, the 100k YouTube subscribers and the 100k net worth are all good examples.

To reach any of those targets, you have to turn up constantly and keep working. It’s not enough to start and just expect things to improve on their own. You have to keep moving forward, even when you see no momentum or change in outcome or results. The people who stick to their work make their goals.

Let’s explore some examples.

Saving money is slow at the beginning but adding to savings gradually and consistently over time will create a larger pot later on. You may only be able to contribute a small amount each month (slow initial growth), but taking advantage of compound interest or investing in stocks (if the market continues to grow as it has in recent years), your money will eventually make more money on its own. There will be a reward at the end. You just have to stick with it.

Getting fit or trying to change your physique is painful and painfully slow at first. But as you train it gets slowly easier and at the same time you see results; even though it can take months of effort. You have to stick with it.

Learning a new skill is a slow process. We cannot expect to master something we have just started to learn, and it takes time and toil to master. But once we can get the basics figured out, we tend to progress more quickly and over time the skills we learn become second nature. But you have to stick with it.

Aiming towards your goal salary perhaps means years of working away at lower-paying positions. It may take thousands of days turning up at work or school before you reach the experience required, find the opportunity or get the pay raise that gets you your desired pay check. You have to stick with it.

Growing an audience (a YouTube channel, an Instagram account, a podcast, a blog) from nothing requires consistent hard work and will show little gains early on. Growth will be very slow at the beginning and the only way to reach tens of thousands in your audience is to keep churning out content regularly. You have to stick with it.

Stay true to your goals and work hard. It will happen. Stick with it. (note to self)