When we decide we want to do something BIG — build a business, write a book, launch a program, make the move — we deliberate and deliberate and then we deliberate some more. And then one day, we decide. After the due diligence, the dotting of the i’s and the crossing of the t’s (and the re-dotting and re-crossing), after the advice, the hand-wringing, we finally wind up here:
Work finally begins when the fear of doing nothing exceeds the fear of doing it badly. - Alain de Botton
And so we begin.
But then our relationship with time does this crazy back flip. We imagine that all of those hours of chronic fretting and crossing and dotting and asking and worrying and imagining somehow counted as putting in the time for the work because we expect instant results.
The tiger in our tanks is hungry and wants to be fed NOW. Big, meaty morsels of success.
One catch: the work wasn’t in the fretting and obsessing and stressing. The work is in doing the work.
Which — bear with me — just takes time.
Yes. It just takes time.
It takes time to find your voice. It takes time to build your authority. It takes time to hone your mastery. It takes time. It just takes time.
Instead of looking at time as the burly doorman that stands between you and your success, consider this:
Time is a gift you offer your loves, your friends, your family, your community.
Offer it generously to your business, book, program, or move. Lay it reverently on the altar of your desires.
How much time?
That’s a fine question.
Is it 10,000 hours spent on the road to mastery? Maybe. Is it the magical and mythical 5 years you’ve been prescribed to allow your business to "make it (whatever that may mean to you)?" Possibly.
It depends on your willingness to see it through.
Will it be worth it? Another fine question.
My vote is YES.
That the THERE you envision is everything you’ve ever hoped for. And more.
That the flaccid results and crickets that can show up early in the process are simply here to help you hone in, discern, and finesse.
Doing the work is unsexy business. It requires patience, perseverance, and focus.
It requires tenacity.
Give it time to mature, to expand, to grow, to reach, to soar.
The steady results you seek require your steadiness.
Now’s not the time to rock the boat. Now’s the time to give it time.
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