Not overnight

Habits and behavior patterns that have taken years to repeat and build will not go away or change overnight with a simple; “I am different from now on” There is a saying, old habits die hard. That is very true in the sense that it requires effort.

Everything that has a strong foundation develops with time and effort-the productive and destructive, everything. Similar to how we develop new habits with work, it takes the same amount of effort to undo what we have done.

If you have chronic pain in your neck or back, for example: from constant sitting due to a desk job, you can imagine this was a build-up of many days, maybe years of doing the same thing. The neck pain will not go away with a minor massage or a two-day spa session. It will not remain gone; especially, if you do not change what caused it in the first place.

The stoics believed that no person is ever complete or flawless, not even the wisest. That, however, did not stop them from pursuing this idea. It also made them accept the necessity of constant effort to achieve something.

We often look at our end goals and get lost within the process, or worse, not even able to start. Try not to focus so much on how far you are from the goal you are trying to reach, but how far you have come since yesterday.

All of your decisions, experiences, happiness, sorrows, failures will accumulate and eventually lead you to great success and where you desire.

The path you are currently working on might not be the correct approach to something. If so, it might even take double the effort to retrace your steps and begin another path, but you will still get there; and when you do, you will have much knowledge and experience to help you.

Patiently work on your craft. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you fail. Failure is just an opportunity to learn a specific subject better. Failure gives you a much deeper understanding of the subject, for it pushes you to find solutions or take a different approach. If you manage to succeed by chance in one try, it may or may not be as sustainable as an experience you gained from failure.

Look to create a strong foundation of whatever it is you are working on. Nothing happens overnight, not anything sustainable that has strong fundamentals at least.