In our world of comparison, success seems so certain for so few. Easily seen long after their struggles are hidden from our eyes. With little thought given to the many days leading up to our new awareness of someone’s apparently “instant” accomplishments.
Two steps forward. One step back is what we assume the cadence of life takes. Where we deeply believe that most things are possible with little effort. Especially when sharing new ideas, possibilities or advice. Fooling ourselves into thinking that progress is both linear and certain while acknowledging we occasionally will face setbacks.
But things never work out this way. Maybe its wrong to say “two steps back – one step forward”. Should it be four steps back – one step forward? Or more steps back before a step foward? Life is difficult. (Why does it take so long for us to accept this?) Accomplishment more difficult than we can imagine. (Why are we so fragile that we do not believe that many things truly are possible?) Especially if we want our accomplishments to be enduring & sustained well into the future. Worthy of our effort & focus.
To lose weight. Become a good cook. Or create a thriving business. Finding achievement that creates a new, repeatable tomorrow with similar results is very, very hard to do. We underestimate the effort needed in what is a three step process: (1) first to discover & ultimately choose to seek new paths and possibilities (2) then working towards achieving them (3) followed by more work to sustain our new tomorrow.
What most don’t realize is that two steps back before making one step forward is overly optimistic. For all of us, many times it’s ten, fifteen, or twenty steps back before one step forward. Making the occassional one step forward seem worthy of celebration when in fact it is merely a resting place on a much longer journey.
Persistence, effort, grit, discipline & patience are all single words that describe well this life’s journey. Words that we don’t easily identify with in our distracted “immediate gratification” world. But fundamental to making progress in whatever we choose do do.