In a world where we are obsessed with instant gratification, and hustling is just part of our culture, there can be a lot of guilt and shame from not executing on a project.
I know I’ve felt it. I have projects that I started years ago that I carry with me and think about almost daily, but haven’t completed. Because of this, I’m pretty good at feeding myself the scripts that:
- I’m not good enough / smart enough
- I’m not hard working / I’m lazy
- I’ll never be successful
Those ideas and projects? They are all still totally relevant and are not something I want to delete from my life.
But here’s a thought:
What if those projects weren’t ready? What if it wasn’t the right time? What if I wasn’t ready to deliver them the way they needed to be put into the world?
What if they haven’t been stalled, but instead have been gestating?
Seeing this tweet from Jon Gold this morning helped me remember one of my favourite personal truths:
Stop struggling to be somewhere you’re not. Or beating yourself up for not getting ‘there’ yet. I don’t mean that you should give up on your goals or stop striving for better, just that sometimes the path can be easier than we think.
The time I’ve spent working on other projects, researching, and just… being – it’s not time lost. The knowledge and understanding I’ve gained in the few years of NOT working on those projects (but thinking about them) may have been better spent than if I HAD gone all-in (and spent years struggling to make them work) when I wasn’t ready. When the world wasn’t ready.
I’ll never know for sure, but changing my perspective from negative to positive can only increase the chance that I’ll have future success.
Sometimes, it’s ok to let an idea simmer.
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