Overnight Success is Bullshit
Overnight Success. The myth! The legend! The glory that we aspire to!
With a little dose of comparison and jealousy elements within it.
The learning that changed how I looked at my business
When I first launched my business, a friend who is an incredibly successful realtor (and multiple other ventures) told me that it would take about 7 years for my business to really get off the ground.
7 YEARS.
I heard the same when I attended an event at PoppedNYC for GetShitDone, led by Cristina Costa. In a room filled with female founders and entrepreneurs, they said the same. Heads nodded when they said it was at least 5 years, if not 10 before they started to feel settled into their business.
5 YEARS? 10 YEARS?!
Overnight Success actually looks like 5-10 years of effort behind the scenes.
The amazing artist? They took classes, they tossed their worst, they plagiarized, they made crappy looking things.
That marathon runner? They didn’t wake up today and go run 26.2 miles - at least I hope they didn’t because tomorrow is going to feel like absolute shit.
The entrepreneur who raised their Series A? They didn’t share the 100s of phone calls, meetings, moments of panic or fear.
The author who got an agent? That’s the fourth novel they wrote before they got traction. That’s 280,000 words written - not including rewrites and edits!
We want that Overnight Success feeling - the idea that once you’ve got an idea, the outcome will be here tomorrow! Boom!
In a world of same-day delivery, tiktok trends lasting 24 hours, and FOMO energy abound, there’s a desire to move fast, break things, constantly innovate, pivot - did you hear the latest on AI this week?!
The remedy to battling Overnight Success
Recognizing the fact is, things take time.
I was recently invited to be on FutureWork|Stuck Podcast - I’ll let ya know when the podcast comes out - and one moment that really stuck with me was a conversation around time versus effort.
When asked, “what’s more important time, or effort?”
My answer?
99% of the time, the answer is, you probably just need to give it a little bit more time. The desire to add on effort, innovation, changes… it’s the desire for control.
Have you ever had a problem you couldn’t finagle, and no matter how hard you wrestled with it, it wasn’t until you walked away for a day - or ten - before you found a solution?
A note: This doesn’t mean that I’m anti-effort, or committing to your work. Or that I recommend you keep working on something that simply isn’t working. Nah. What I’m saying here is that our desire for the Overnight Success often blinds us to the benefit of recognizing sometimes things need to marinate to crystalize into that fun instagram post.
So if you’re looking to battle that Overnight Success feeling, here are a couple ideas to take on.
Steps to battle against the expectations of Overnight Success
Leverage the power of mental contrasting to get clearer on what it’ll take to get where you want to go - not just hoping it’ll happen. Try a WOOP!
Goal-set better in six steps to make the future you a tiny bit closer. Goal-Setting in 6 Steps
Shift into long-term thinking rather than short-term gains. Long Term Thinking
When you see that promotional post and are feeling a bit green? Comparison can be torture, or a teacher. Dive deeper on those feelings around jealousy and learn the why. Comparison Learnings
Cultivate a growth mindset. Steal the tips and tricks from my talk I gave to Columbia University’s 2.8 Accelerator. How to develop and maintain a growth mindset as a founder.
Join 100 Days. A 100-day, 14-week anti-hustle pro-productivity program that is all about figuring out your version of success in your goals - not someone else’s! Learn more!
Work with me! Learn more about my process and hear from my past clients