Three Steps Forward
The daily rhythm of success can be summarized simply: ‘three steps forward, two steps back.’
It hardly feels like success. To alternate between progress and failure feels mediocre. It feels like daily life. It feels boring.
Yet, it’s the mindset of the truly successful; it’s the principle that success is a long-term positive trajectory despite setbacks. Steady progress over time always trumps short-term failures. The key is putting in today’s effort and ignoring the short-term dips.
Setbacks are guaranteed, but don’t spend time bemoaning them. Successful people don’t beat themselves up about things they can’t control. They focus on what they can do, and they do it well. It’s natural to be discouraged in the face of challenges. The secret of success lies in accepting that these challenges will come, but not getting bent out of shape because of them.
Successful people just keep plodding. Like everyone else, they sometimes slide backward. But they always pick themselves up and keep going. Sometimes they end the day behind where they started. No matter – just keep plodding forward.
Don’t focus on the discouragements. Every time you fail, be sure to evaluate what went wrong. Find out how you can avoid it. Personal failures must be dealt with – sometimes harshly. Impersonal failures are part of life – accept them. The truly deadly enemies, though, are discouragement and defeatism. They waste precious time that could be spent plodding forward. They prevent success.
Success isn’t a distant goal, it isn’t a checkbox on a to-do list. It’s commitment to a process, the process of plodding forward. Success means prioritizing the process over the result. This means that successful people don’t feel like failures when they have a bad day. They don’t get infuriated by factors outside their own control. They don’t give in to discouragement when their efforts aren’t apparent.
Coach Sommer says it best in ‘Tools of Titans’ – “In fact, this impatience in dealing with frustration is the primary reason that most people fail to achieve their goals. Unreasonable expectations timewise, resulting in unnecessary frustration, due to a perceived feeling of failure. Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process. The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home. A blue collar work ethic married to indomitable will. It is literally that simple.”
Focus on the next thing. Distraction takes many forms: disappointment and success both conspire to prevent plodding. Don’t wallow in defeat or rest on your laurels. Dedicate yourself instead to getting up tomorrow and going for it again, better. Don’t be focused on a mile ahead, or a mile behind, but on the next footfall. This is the secret to all successes in life, whether it means learning a skill, starting a business, developing a virtue, or fighting a vice.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” (Winston Churchill)
In place of comments, I would love to hear from you personally. Please reach out to me via the Contact Page to share your thoughts and perspectives on this post!
Enjoying this content? Subscribe to receive it directly in your email, once a week.
