I Look the Same Every Day. I Quit!
This is a story about success in business, as much as how I look on a daily basis. I just see far to many parallels between dieting and building a successful business online to not discuss it.
Now this may seem crazy, as you are probably wondering what the heck a "diet" has to do with "business". To help you understand the relevance, let me tell you a little story.
My Journey to Lose Weight Shows NO Results.
I am personally trying to cut down some weight right now, with the hopes of losing 20lbs.
Each and every morning I get up and plunk myself on the scale, weighing myself for the morning. I do this to add predictability to the tracking of my weight. You don't want to weigh yourself at different times during the day if you are trying to track weight loss because it will create inconsistencies.
The results every day vary based on what I ate the day before. If I had high sodium intake (salt), my body is likely retaining water. But if I have actively been focused on my diet, sometimes I will notice my weight very slowly going down throughout the week.
I am hoping to take some pictures documenting my progress, but one thing I noticed is that every single morning when I look in the mirror I look EXACTLY the same as the day before. I could have put in a 2-hour vigorous workout at the gym, with very strict low calorie intake throughout the day and no difference.
I look exactly the same as the day before!
And the worse part is, this happens over and over again. Every day is ground hog day, I don't notice any measurable difference in the way I look.
BUT one thing I learned through various diets and tracking results over the years is that if you take a picture of today, it might not look much different than yesterday. That is because you are conditioned to see yourself in your "current" state, and naturally you won't notice a gradual change of a fraction of a pound in weight loss.
However, if you track this progress over a longer period of time and you compare a picture of today, to a picture of 3-4 weeks ago you will notice considerable difference.
The problem is, we get discouraged by the lack of overnight results as we look the same. That tends to put us in a funk, and naturally it can be very easy to give up on your goals as a result of the lack of progress (or the feeling thereof).
This frustration and feeling of lack of progress extends to just about everything we try to get better and succeed at, including business.
In Business, You Get Up Every Morning to NO Results.
The exact same thing goes for business, and this is the reason so many people get discouraged with business in the same way they do with dieting. You get up everyone morning, and your business is likely going to look exactly the same as the day before. No matter how HARD you worked, you are likely not going to experience big results from your efforts the day prior.
But also like dieting, these smaller moments in time (ex. a day) add up to a much broader and high arching curve of success. The days when you put forth the effort, start to compound to weekly, monthly and yearly results.
Over the past 20 years within the online business world, I have discovered that effort doesn't lead to immediate results. The time and effort I put forth now, will often times show face 6-12 months down the road. That has always been the case.
Also, lack of effort doesn't lead to an immediate downturn in your business. The beauty about the Internet is that you can literally have a successful business up and running and it will operate successfully in "autopilot" for potentially months and years without you doing much. But "not doing much" will eventually catch up to you.
In other words, complacency NOW will lead to failure later. This is a pattern I have seen with almost EVERY successful business owner I have ever worked with. They reach success, and the natural instinct is to enjoy the rewards of their success...and they take their foot off the pedal. That leads an imminent future downturn in business, but it won't show face often times for months or even years.
So just like dieting, the actions you take now (though they don't appear to bear immediate fruits) are the reason that you will achieve success down the road.
And that leads me to...
Small Actions, Compound to Big Results.
Life is a collection of minutes, hours and days. You get up every day and you choose whether you are going to take positive action towards some sort of achievement or not.
Whether this is dieting, or whether this is building a business, these actions compound on one another and lead to much larger accomplishments. In all reality, I cannot lose 20lbs in a day. The same way I cannot create a $1,000 income in a day.
The goal you set for yourself, is the target. How you get there is the incremental, small actions that you take on a daily basis.
You are going to look the same every day when you get up, but that is only because you remember the day before. You don't remember what you looked like 4 weeks ago, or 2 years ago. Don't let the same "look" discourage you, because though you don't appear to be any better off, you are.
Small actions, lead to big success when done over a sustained period of time. In dieting, in business, in life. Just remember that.
Recent Comments
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Thank you Sometimes It feels like that and I might be starting slow but that’s because of my divorce process. As I said before I’m not quitting because I’m in it to win this time. I asked about the payment for my reasons due to my private but I got this now and nothing is going to stop me even your mean hardcore feedback commenters. So it is what it is. Again thank you
Keep the vision largely intact, and take the steps, big or small, every single day. A step is a step.
I've noticed, in terms of building this type of online business, when you are along the ride for the long trek - results trickle in quicker and quicker. Due to building out the authority and never giving up.
In the past, I've 100% taken my foot off the pedal. For a while now, I've built off of past successes and I'm seeing big results now, with small steps in between.
Patience has to be congruent with the efforts we put forth in this business. I'm excited about the near future, there is no point in pumping the brakes.
It's easy to reflect on the day-to-day results... It's easy to give up. If this business was easy, everyone in the world would have a wildly successful affiliate marketing business that also stands the test of time.
Thanks for sharing this post, I always look forward to these types of posts from you bro. I love everything about this platform, thanks for everything.
🍻
I think we have all taken our foot off the pedal, and it doesn't catch up to us right away rather down the road. Sometimes we blame other things that aren't related to the downfall when it happens...perhaps Google, or social media, or the economy, or xyz when in reality it was likely correlated to the lack of effort 6-12 months prior.
Carson and I have learned from this, and now we keep our foot down on the pedal...it is the only way to growth, and it is the only way to sustaining your business once you have built it up. We try to teach others the same as they start to achieve success, but sometimes you have to experience a downturn in business in order to really understand what to avoid.
We appreciate you too bro and I really hope you are doing well Colton! :)
" They reach success, and the natural instinct is to enjoy the rewards of their success...and they take their foot off the pedal. That leads an imminent future downturn in business "
This is my juncture right now!
I have a nice steady stream coming in, and I think I could pretty much take the year off and let the money roll in!
But then what about next year or the year after?
Nope now is the time with the current success to double down, re-double my efforts and not only sustain the current income streams but find new ones and increase income further and further.
I have a vibrant and successful website and making the most of this is key.
In fact, why am I even typing this, I have content to write!
Don't enjoy your success, set some new ambitious goals for yourself and work towards that. I would hate to see you fall into this trap Steve because it is a trap....complacency gets the best of us when we are achieving results, and it can still happen when we don't show up for business. ;)
Double down as you say, and reach for the stars that are beyond where are at now Steve. You will continue to see growth!
Hi Kyle, that was a great read, So true. When I started weight training I expected results in a week. Little did I know that things take time. But sure enough within the year I started seeing results. And you don`t look that bad in the morning.😁🙏
I think we have been conditioned to think that from misleading "get rich quick" advertising out there.
But the reality is those that are getting rich quick, are those that have put in all of the days where it appeared nothing was happening in their business...when it was actually a collection of all that effort that lead to their results.
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Iam building isay to myself yes that's right and that's actually how I feel now after 6 plus months haven't made a penny yet I'll give up very soon
No that's not the case for me I have learnt A lot here and iam staying regardless yes iam staying b cause I am not after the money but after other things and this is the best place to learn
Yes, exactly. You have learned lots, and you have acquired a new skill set. That is VALUE...and will serve as value in your journey moving forward, which will lead to revenue value.