All meaningful things take time — sometimes twice as long.
Many people aim to do all the right things at the right time and expect a good outcome in the shortest possible time. They underestimate the impact of time on the outcome.
Bill Gates was right, “most of us tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in a year but underestimate what we can achieve in ten.”
Picasso took years of practice to master his art. Charles Darwin spent years exploring the natural world. Einstein spent a greater percentage of his youth learning how the universe works.
Everything great around you took years to refine. Skills take time to master. Ideas take massive investment of time to execute.
And even more investment of resources to get it from good to great. Every expert carries a story — an investment of significant time.
The power of compound time
“Good things take time, as they should. We shouldn’t expect good things to happen overnight. Actually, getting something too easily or too soon can cheapen the outcome.” — John Wooden
Every good thing takes a lot of time. If you can leverage time to your advantage and learn to manage the painful process of progress, you can predict a percentage of the outcome.
Improving anything also takes time. Building better habits require a lot of practice. Designing a great product takes time — even when it’s shipped, the iteration process continues.
Improving your life takes deliberate practice every day. Growing an audience takes times. Writing a best seller can sometimes take twice the time. Investing for your future takes a lot of patience, especially if you intend to leverage the power of compound interest. Making exercise a daily habit takes consistent effort and a lot of repetition.
Many people want to take the shortcut. It often doesn’t work. Lasting outcomes demand an investment of time. It applies in all areas of life. Don’t rush the process. Embrace the messy middle. That’s how you keep moving.
One thing you can do throughout the process is to keep measuring your results and progress. The more personal feedback you can gather, the more wisdom you can apply in the future to do better.
Measure your tools, systems and processes. Ask better questions about how you work. Ask yourself: Am I using the right and smarter tools available?
Are these the suitable systems for the problems I’m trying to solve? Are my productivity systems delivering the outcomes I want? What can I do differently to get a better result?
Take control of your progress. Do more of what’s working and less of what’s standing in your way. Eighty percent of your outcomes are as a result of twenty percent of your actions.
So keep an eye on your inputs. Sometimes we waste a lot of time on actions we shouldn’t take at all. Find out whether what you are doing still matters to your big picture.
Your long term goal should always guide your short term actions. If everything checks out, keep doing what’s moving the needle.
“Those small daily improvements that, over time, lead to stunning results. It’s the small steps that matter most.” Robin Sharma Said.
Feed your focus and starve your distractions. Get rid of the distractions that stand in your way and focus on meaningful actions. And build time-saving measures in your systems.
The good news is, excellent time investment accumulates. All those investments of time will work in your favour in the week. If you are taking the right actions in any area of your life, keep pushing. Your investment of time will not be in vain. Your time is valuable. Choose your meaningful actions with care.