If You’re Angry You’re Not Successful Yet, You Need To Work Harder

“When you’re good at something, you tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they tell you.”

— The Rock, a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson

All the time, I see people wonder where their results are when they haven’t earned them.

I see novice writers who publish a mere ten or fifteen articles and then start to wonder why one hasn’t gone viral. I see first-time entrepreneurs work on a startup for 3 months and then wonder where their venture funding is. I see people go to the gym off and on for a few weeks and wonder where their gains are.

These people are looking for the secret formula for success.

But there is no secret formula. 99% of the time, the reason you’re not successful is that you’re just not good enough.

It isn’t because you posted at the wrong time of day. It isn’t because you didn’t get the email address of that angel investor. It isn’t because you aren’t eating enough protein. You just aren’t good enough yet.

If people wanted to click on your article, they would. If that angel investor wanted to invest in you, he would have told you so. If you were lifting enough weight for your muscles to tear and grow anew, they would.

Instead of asking yourself what the secret formula is — the secret formula to going viral, the secret formula to getting investment, the secret formula to gaining muscle mass — ask yourself what you can do to be better.

Nobody wants to hear this because nobody wants to be told they’re not good enough. It’s a lot nicer to believe all you’re missing is The 1 Secret than it is to believe you’re just not good enough.

But results don’t care about what’s nice to believe. If you want results, you can’t either.

I know it sucks to hear because it sucks for me when I hear it, too.

When I lie awake at night, wondering why I’m not a six-figure-internet-writer-extraordinaire yet, why I’m not living in Bali and surfing by day and drinking piña coladas at night, or whatever it is successful writers do, it sucks to tell myself it’s because my writing isn’t good enough.

It would be so much easier to believe I’m just missing something. I’m just missing The 1 Secret I Need, and that once I find it, I’m going to be successful. Hell, it would even be easier to believe I’m just missing the luck of being born in the right socioeconomic class, because even if it meant I can’t be successful, it would also mean it’s not my fault.

But that would be a lie. Lying to myself won’t get me any closer to my dreams.

The reason I’m not a six-figure writer is that I’m not good enough. My headlines aren’t good enough. My composition isn’t good enough. My topic selection isn’t good enough. For me, the shortest path to my dreams is by being better at these things.

That realization led me to buy The Art and Business of Online Writing by Nicolas Cole, a very successful six-figure (possibly seven-figure) online writer.

And you know what he said? He said exactly what I already knew: there are no shortcuts. The only way out is through.

His book is completely packed with crucial information every online writer needs (no, I’m not sponsored), but even after teaching the reader all these need-to-know things, he says (paraphrasing)“None of it matters if you don’t write. You need to write as often as possible. Every day, if you can.” Cole himself had to write over 1,000 articles before he found success.

I don’t know many writers who are willing to write over 1,000 articles. I also don’t know many entrepreneurs who are willing to work a startup for over 5 years before giving up on it. Nor do I know many people who are willing to go to the gym 4 times a week for a year before they declare their effort a failure.

Not a lot of people are willing to put in that kind of work.

Tell me. Have you put in that kind of work?

If not, you don’t get to be angry. You don’t get to wonder why you’re not successful yet. All you get to do is either keep going or give up.

I recommend you keep going. The results are way better.

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