![\"Blooms.png\"](\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/blooms.png\")
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One of the biggest lessons I\u2019ve learned running this blog is the value of patience. And for a 19-year old, this hasn\u2019t been an easy lesson to learn. I think it\u2019s fairly common for people in their twenties to get impatient. If you set a target for 5 years, that means you\u2019ll need to wait another 25% of your entire life before it happens.<\/p>\n
Because of this, I\u2019m not surprised by people my age who drop out of University because they can\u2019t invest the extra 2-3 years to get a degree. When opportunities seem to be racing by and life is going at 100 mph, it\u2019s hard to slow down and stick to a long-term plan.<\/p>\n
I have a bias towards getting stuff done. The upside is that it lets me work like a maniac if I care about something. The downside is that I hate waiting. Being able to work hard is great, but if you lack patience you\u2019re not going to last, believe me.<\/p>\n
From an outside perspective, this blog\u2019s growth seems fairly rapid. In two years I went from 0 visitors to a medium-sized blog that might be able to supply full-time income soon.<\/p>\n
But from the inside perspective, growth can often feel painfully slow. I\u2019ve had stretches of months where nothing changed. And when you\u2019re writing several thousand words a week of content, trying everything you can to improve, getting through plateaus can be difficult.<\/p>\n
Add to this the rapid growth of other blogs, and your patience starts to shake. I\u2019m not a jealous person, so I was thrilled when many of my blogging friends made it big. But, when you\u2019ve hit a plateau and people around you are riding on a wave of improvement, it takes a great deal of discipline to stick to your strategy.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m relating my experiences with patience because I feel most people have been in similar situations. We\u2019ve all had bursts of success that feel like they will never end. And also plateaus where you put out a gallon of sweat and get nowhere. Riding the waves of success is easy. It\u2019s having the patience to make it through plateaus that is hard.<\/p>\n
Learning the value of patience hasn\u2019t been easy, but I\u2019ve found a few different perspectives that make it easier to harness. By taking on one of these viewpoints, it makes it easier to wait:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve noticed in my own life that success usually comes in spurts, even when the effort you put in is constant. I\u2019ll get a huge traffic boost one week and nothing the next three, even though I put the same amount of work in the entire time. I\u2019ll increase my strength at the gym in a month, even though I go regularly all year.<\/p>\n
Benchmarking can be useful for setting goals, but don\u2019t compare the rate of improvement. Improvement comes in spurts, so if you hit a plateau, it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re failing. When the spurts happen is mostly a matter of luck, so you should focus on being prepared when they come.<\/p>\n
You can hate your job and still love a promotion. But if you hate your job, can you make it through the plateaus? Don\u2019t let the small bursts of success become your reason for being. If you care about the process, you can still enjoy yourself when the improvement stops.<\/p>\n
Enjoyment also helps you focus in the present moment. Being focused on the now is the best way to be patient.<\/p>\n
The biggest saboteur of patience is doubt. It isn\u2019t the waiting, but the fear that you are doing everything wrong, that causes most people to give up. If you knew with a 100% probability that success would happen, patience wouldn\u2019t be a problem. But if you honestly believe with 100% certainty, you\u2019re deluding yourself.<\/p>\n
Instead of trying to delude myself into believing success is inevitable, I take a different approach. This is the \u201cset it and forget it\u201d method:<\/p>\n
Make the best decision you can, then get to work. Of course, if new information comes up, you can change your strategy. But this prevents the 90% of worries that aren\u2019t caused by new information, but by failing to decide on the old information.<\/p>\n
There are definitely times when quitting early can help. Getting out of a bad relationship instead of waiting it through. Quitting a bad job when you aren\u2019t working your passion. Leaving an overcrowded industry to do something original. Being stubborn isn\u2019t helpful.<\/p>\n
But once you\u2019ve made a decision, patience helps you see it through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the biggest lessons I\u2019ve learned running this blog is the value of patience. And for a 19-year old, this hasn\u2019t been an easy lesson to learn. I think it\u2019s fairly common for people in their twenties to get impatient. If you set a target for 5 years, that means you\u2019ll need to wait […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,680],"tags":[26,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-goal-setting","7":"category-nc-productivity","8":"tag-goals","9":"tag-process","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n