midjourney a hurdle race going uphill

Long-term goals require handling short-term setbacks

How often have you heard, “I wish I bought Bitcoin/Amazon stock/pick-your-hype when they were at $100! Now I’d be worth millions!” They don’t realize they would have sold well before the peak but at the first real setback.

This is true for many things:

1. To stay married for 10 years, you must make it through this weekend’s argument.
2. To run 10k, you must resist the temptation to stop and keep running.
3. To reach 10 m ARR, you must close this month’s sales first!

It is great to have aspirational, big-hairy-audacious goals, but we underestimate the setbacks we will need to fight on the way. One of the hardest things is not falling for temptation or giving in when it suddenly gets brutally hard.

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

The Serenity Prayer

Being in it for the long run is about keeping up with a lot of short runs.