Your Success will Come at an Appointed Time
We all have different goals in life.
Most of the time, our definition of success comes with achieving our biggest goals.
I have yet to achieve most things on my goal list, but if there’s one thing I want right now, it’s this: to quit my job and work full-time as a freelancer while working at home.
That’s a huge goal, and it thrills me no end.
I get to stay home, spend more time with my family, eat dinner with them, get to bed early, and even read bedtime stories to my kids. I get autonomy over my time. That would be perfect for me.
But it has not happened yet.
According to self-improvement books, I should set a time frame when I should achieve it for it to come true.
Well, the goal date to quit my current job was last year, but that didn’t happen. So I moved it to July this year, but it looks like that’s not going to happen either.
It’s time for me to panic. Not so fast. Even though I haven’t achieved this goal yet, I remain optimistic. Here’s why.
The book that took nine years to make money
In 1992, a young lawyer/ community organizer/ part-time teacher wrote the first draft of his book, a memoir that talks about the author’s mixed heritage. He was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law review, a periodical unknown to many.
His early Success spurred enthusiasm in his publisher that perhaps, the racial relations in the United States of America are progressing.
The book was initially published in 1995. Like any first-time author, he was hopeful that the book would succeed beyond his dreams. And although his book got good reviews, it had underwhelming sales.
He thought that his career as a book author was over. He continued living his life, teaching Law at university, starting a family, practicing as a lawyer, then eventually running for public office and working as a state legislator.
Almost a decade later, the author spoke in front of a crowd of 15,000 people with more watching at home. People were mesmerized by this intelligent person who became an “overnight sensation” after that speech.
Amazingly, his book got a paperback re-issue and landed on the New York Times bestseller, nine years after it was published. He also got a generous offer for a second book which netted him a cool $1.9 million.
The name of the author? Barack Obama.
What’s the lesson?
Obviously, I’m not like him.
He’s an anomaly, an outlier, has a unique story, is highly intelligent, and gifted.
But that means everyone, even great people, had to wait for Success.
He had to pay his dues, continue to work to reach his full potential, and wait nine long years for his book to be considered a success.
That’s my reminder to keep working, and eventually, success will come. But it will not come when I want it to; it will come when the time is right.
Mr. Obama continued working and adding to his story. After he gave that electrifying speech in 2004, people got a glimpse of who he could potentially be: an outsider with a weird name, someone with mixed heritage, not born from a wealthy or well-connected family, but could be the first black president of America.
That’s the embodiment of the American story. And people wanted to know more, which is why his book sales exploded.
On the other end of the spectrum, I have achieved moderate success in life, and I noticed a pattern.
The signs are there
I’ve achieved a few goals myself (although they’re minuscule compared to what Mr. Obama has achieved). But the signs are there of what’s needed to reach my goal: consistency, a commitment to improvement, and lastly, not quitting.
It took me nine years before I found the consistency and the right strategy so I could lose weight and keep it off.
I started making money writing on the internet seven years after blogging. And it almost did not happen if I got content with a regular job and quit working on my writing.
I quit my steady job as a medical technologist in 2003 to find a job that I have a passion for. Almost 20 years have passed, and I can’t honestly say I’ve found the “one,” but I can tell you that I’m getting closer to my passion each year.
Even Ayodeji Awosika took a few years before he hit his stride. The first time I read Ayo’s work, I thought he was born to write. But apparently, he didn’t start that way and was a bit of an asshole. He preaches consistency, the proper mindset, and not giving up as keys to his success.
Keep working
If there are lots of successful people who preach this, then it must be true.
I hope it doesn’t take me 20 years before I can finally quit my job and eventually work at home. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, next week, or next month. It might not even happen this year.
But if there’s something that my past successes have taught me, the more consistent I am, the more I’m committed to improving, the sooner I get results. And I’m willing to put in the work and wait as long as it takes.
You might be in the same situation I’m in, you might feel your dreams are far away.
But one thing’s for sure: If we quit now, we’ll never achieve our goals.
So it’s time to put our heads down, buckle up, and get to work.
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