There are days when the road is smooth and everything seems to be going exactly as it should. There are days that the kids do their chores without nagging and dinner comes together easily and work is full of interesting, but good surprises (like plants from a coworker). Creativity comes easily and inspiration is in the air.

Then there are days that things fall apart. People say or write things that carry a tremendous weight. The kids cant seem to get along. Sleep was nonexistent and coffee barely touches the exhaustion. Your heart rate won’t slow down and it’s making you a bit dizzy. The person that is typically your confidante on such bad days is not around and it’s difficult to know where to turn.

Every word written or every stroke of the brush feels like a challenge and it’s obvious this is not your best work.

But you choose to carry on. You choose to entertain the habit, simply for the sake of habit.

Those hard days? Those are the fires that forge you into the person you want to be.  That is where character is formed and where it becomes skill building instead of raw emotion.

No matter who you are, you will face some basic challenges.

Fear will try to tell you that you can’t do it, that your work isn’t good enough or it’s already been done. Anxiety will whisper that you should do something different or scream that no one will like it. Competition might intimidate you. Laziness will tempt you. Other people will try to distract you. Time will always try to evade you. Money might present a challenge. 

And then, of course, there is the never-ending uncertainty. You don’t know what might happen. There is no guarantee of success. And even if you do succeed, who knows how long it might take.

Days become weeks and weeks turn to months, but you continue to do work and you find that your craft has become second nature. If you take time off, it is strange now. Your art/writing/goal has become a part of you.

The key to success in anything is not to get it all done at once, but rather to continue to show up. Show up when it’s easy. Show up when it’s hard. Show up when your heart is breaking. Show up when things don’t go your way. Show up when things are absolutely blissful. Just show up.

Water can carve stone with only a drop at a time. All it has to do is keep dripping.

Any goal you have in life is exactly the same. You just have to do a little every single day and eventually the results will appear. You have to show up again after you’ve let it go. You have to keep going, no matter what.

I read somewhere that 90% of success is just getting started, developing a habit, and persevering in spite of obstacles. I think that is the absolute truth.

Strategy and resources can only take you so far. You only cross the finish line when you decide to do something and you keep on doing it… without regard for what the world has to say, how you feel, or what your results are.

Keep going, friend. I can’t wait to see you do great things!