the real story of successSuccess is hard.

It looks easy when it’s happening to someone else, but the reality is that everyone faces challenges, and sometimes a LOT of them.

I thought this experience just applied to entrepreneurs but as I was creating this picture it reminded me of my 10 year old doing his homework. His teacher spent one term (10 weeks) giving out weekly creative challenges instead of usual homework.
10 weeks! 10! WHY??
Every Monday he would come home and we would look at his homework task together.
Every week he would start out positive and excited about the project.
We’d brainstorm ideas together and he’d choose an idea that was going to be perfect, unique, achievable and fun to do.
But before long his enthusiasm would deteriorate into self-doubt.
Which would make the problem seem much bigger and much worse than it really was.
He’d start stressing about whether we had the right materials, enough time, the skills to make whatever it was he wanted to make.
This was rapidly followed by crippling indecision and yes, crying.
Followed closely by illogically completely changing plans and the same catastrophe happening all over again (and more crying).
Then, finally, (after some patient, rational guidance from me!) coming up with a decision and actually doing the project.
Over a few weeks I noticed the same pattern repeating: brief enthusiasm, followed by 20 minutes of indecision, followed by 20 minutes of complaining, followed by 20 minutes of crying. But eventually there would be a break through (if he could get through to the other side of self-doubt) then 20 minutes of doing the actual homework (with some more crying and complaining thrown in too) and then finally success!

At first I was concerned that perhaps this was some kind of weird genetic trait he’d inherited from me but I realised that this process was kind of universal, whether you were an athlete, an entrepreneur, a student, an employee or whatever you did there would be enthusiasm, challenges, triumphs, self-doubt, indecision, ugly crying and then, if you kept trying, a breakthrough and finally success!

What do you think? Is this true for you?
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