Ever feel like you’re not making any progress?
You work and you work and you work. There’s nothing to show for it. Not the results you want.
Maybe you’re not working on something where there’s a linear relationship between the work you put in and the output you get back. I’d argue that there’s a lot of stuff in life that’s like that.
Whether it be learning a new skill, building a business, being in a relationship, parenting, or many other things in life, the work going in doesn’t always match the results you get. At least not in the short run.
I don’t know where I heard it, but I love this example.
You’re in a room with an ice cube. You want to melt the ice cube (the result you want). So, you start working and working at warming the room. You bring it from 25F to 28F with a bunch of work. No result. You keep working. 28F to 30F. Still no result.
Maybe it’s time to give up. You’re working hard but not getting any results.
You decide to keep working. You work really hard and the temperature goes from 28F to 31F.
What’s the use?
You keep going anyway. You work and work and the temperature goes from 31F to 33F.
Finally! The ice cube melts!
Look at that! You got a result! Onlookers would say that you got instantaneous results because they didn’t see all the work. They just see the water. Others would say you got lucky and the ice cube melted.
Don’t give up just because you don’t get instant results. Much of life just doesn’t work that way.
Photo Credit: Photo by Kelvin Lutan on Unsplash