Don’t give up – Habit Payoff is Non-Linear!

Lots of meat in these four paragraphs.

Excuse my exaggeration but these are the wisest words a human being has ever said in this world when it comes to habits:

“We often expect progress to be linear. At the very least, we hope it will come quickly. In reality, the results of our efforts are often delayed. It is not until months or years later that we realize the true value of the previous work we have done. This can result in a ‘valley of disappointment’ where people feel discouraged after putting in weeks or months of hard work without experiencing any results. However, this work was not wasted. It was simply being stored. It is not until much later that the full value of previous efforts is revealed.”

The screenshot is from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits.

The thing is though HOW can we make the valley of disappointment look like a less horrible place?

By changing your perspective.

You’re starting an online business to make money but… look at how much you’re learning along the way.

Take accounting. Most entrepreneurs find accounting boring (“admin”) but if you take it seriously, if you look at it as another skill, you’re more likely to enjoy it! Accounting can be creative and there are clever accountants out there who are invaluable assets to the companies they work for. These guys work with a canvas and a palette every day and come up with beautiful accounting solutions!

Let’s look at someone who’s starting a blog. It takes long until you see traction with your blog. If you’re looking at your Google Analytics expecting a spike in the next three or six months, better don’t start that blog! It won’t happen! Instead, see your blog as your own precious diary. See your articles as your notes, the product of your learning. See your blog as an effort to document your own journey to mastery.

Write for yourself first! That’s not selfish, don’t take me wrong. If you write for yourself because you want to get better, the chances are that your content will probably be valuable to other people too! You are the first reader of your blog. You are the one who goes back to those articles to find something in his precious notes! Do you see? When you change your perspective the valley of disappointment becomes the valley of joy!

All the above is applicable to any type of goal and the habits associated with it. It’s the concept of “enjoy the now, enjoy the journey”. You may have not lost those 20 kilos yet when you sign up for a gym membership but you can still feel those endorphins kicking in even after the first workout! This is what you should focus on.

Any more ideas on how to have fun in the valley of disappointment? What works for you? What keeps you on track when there are no tangible results for weeks, for months, for years?