Sustaining anything takes effort. Keeping things going always takes work. We don’t speak of it very often. We always are chasing the next new idea or the simple thought that we think will bring us happiness.
Ask any parent raising a family. Needing to work to pay bills. Worried about what they can afford to spend at Christmas. And yet, without choice, they persevere and don’t give up.
Ask the dieter how soon after they exercised every day for a week did they keep it up?
Ask the blogger, how many have they have written 3 months after they started?
Ask your partner, how hard it is to keep the house clean week in and week out?
Ask the student, how difficult it is for them to finish a research paper?
Ask the teacher, how difficult it is to keep their children’s enthusiasm up for learning as the school year goes on?
Ask the sick person, how difficult it is to maintain their normal life while trying to recover, because they just can’t afford to stop?
These examples readily come to mind. You must have others that might even be better.
Did you ever consider how difficult it is to build your life over time, to build your business over time, to raise good children over time, to master a skill over time, to love someone uncontrollably for a very long time?
Very little happens in a day. (Most things of value take years to reveal themselves.)
Once you really understand this simple sentence. you slowly learn that you just can’t give up easily. Nor can you expect things to just happen. Learning how to “keep things going” when things are against you, when things don’t appear to be progressing, when things just aren’t working out (today) is an important skill that can only be built with practice over time.
Ability has nothing to do with this skill. Your heart and your strength to persevere do.
Nothing is easy. Get used to it and start to work harder at keeping more things going that you value most but don’t easily see.