A seed, some water, some soil, some light. And plenty of love and patience. Understand that it will not instantly morph into a grand tree that becomes the hub for many spices of living organism. It takes time for the roots to sink in, to build up a stable foundation.
When it eventually becomes an amazing stature of tree, the people who really shower it with nourishment will not be amazed. Watching it grow, little by little. The changes are not that dramatic because they are there to witness it every day.
So why should we expect any difference when it comes to our work?
It takes time to be proficient at what we do. It takes even longer to be truly masterful at our craft. Because it gets better if we keep chipping away the rough edges and only then, it becomes more polished. We iterate, we adapt, and then we produce a more refined work.
We don’t earn the trust of our audience overnight. It takes years to hone our skills, develop our prose and fine-tune our shortcomings. These are the most organic type of growth that will be able to sustain the passage of events and time.
Having grown wiser over the years, I have come to accept the reality and fact that there is really no secret sauce that guarantees success. I was once actively searching for such avenues, convinced that there must be a way to be like one of those Internet Marketers leading the high life. It didn’t help when there are many sites out there eager to offer their so called expertise in exchange to spamming me with links to purchase their work, which ironically, looks strangely similar to the other dudes in my inbox spanning their books in my face.
I’m glad that eventually, it dwell on me the most important attribute to have is never found in any of those “Here’s what you need to know to earn $30,000 a month” e-books. Honestly, who doesn’t like to indulge in those rags to riches stories and replicate their successes. Time is a virtue lost on many of us in this era of instant gratification. We expect recognition and success to come overnight. If things were that simple we would have many ready-made stars surfing the site of warrior forum. Am I being too skeptical, maybe.
Let’s go back to the story if the little seed. It started off as a vulnerable piece, fragile and helpless. It’s prone to factors which would either harness or hinder its growth. But somehow, a seed almost always manages to weather the hardships and grow into the tree of life.
Start off with what you like, refuel yourself with inspirations from others and keep working on it. And shower it with love and patience.
Because good things are worth waiting for.