Rose-Coloured Resilience

Today I am back to work after a week off with the dreaded lurgy. Again. Strike two for me with this exasperatingly, devastatingly disruptive virus. As a small business owner, no work means no pay, and today I am sitting staring at my screen for some inspiration.

The mountain of work piled up while I was off, and the mountain of untouched ‘to do’ feels like a massive hurdle right now. Where to start?

Scrolling – read procrastinating – through LinkedIn, I come across this quote…

“A big business starts small”

richard branson

So simple. Short and sweet. It was what I needed to read now.

All businesses do indeed start small. Often with one person’s vision for something big. I know my vision is big. Huge. And some days that vision energises me, but other days, particularly when I have lost momentum (like today, after being off sick), that vision feels too big. Too overwhelming for little old me. How am I going to get there?

This week has been particularly challenging because the things I need to do are tedious. They aren’t the fun ‘changing lives’ things that I thrive on, but without them, I can’t get to the fun stuff. I am reminded of the ripple effect, of how one tiny action will have repercussions, and so I just need to start. But today it isn’t easy going.

Years ago I went to a business building seminar, and the keynote speaker talked about how he built his business. From small, just him in the beginning, to a multimillion-dollar business. He was inspirational, but he was so human- so authentic. He said that sometimes he had to force himself to make those calls. One day he would make five calls, and another day one or two, and another day maybe eight calls. He was inconsistent. But he said, and this is the part I remember, “That was the key… being inconsistent… inconsistent… inconsistent…”

It made me smile. He made his point.

So maybe today my work isn’t life changing, and maybe today it isn’t that energising, but all it takes is a start, and to be consistent, or consistently inconsistent, and to keep going.  

I write and teach about resilience and grit for goodness’ sake! It’s part of those vital future skills I try instil in young people. Time to practice what I preach, right? And I will. I will dig deep and find that stubbornness that keeps me going, and I will gain my momentum again, but I just wanted to let people know that it isn’t always easy. Some days it feels like trudging thigh deep through mud. In wool pants. Wearing steel capped hiking boots. That suction to the mud and make your legs feel like lead. While dragging a suitcase with a broken wheel. In the pouring rain.

So many inspirational success stories seem painted with a rose-coloured haze of blissful progress that isn’t painful or hard. We admire these successful bigwigs, at the echelons of their success and can’t imagine that it was ever difficult for them, but the reality is that some days it is just not fun.

We know that visions and dreams don’t become realities through magic and wishing. They require commitment, stubborn will, and reigniting yourself. Whether that is through an inspiring quote, or necessity, or a kick in the a$$, you have to do what needs to be done – sometimes sluggishly, other times with exhilarating energy.

The ugly truth though, is that success is passion and perseverance, stamina, sticking with it, and having the raw endurance you need for a marathon, because success isn’t a sprint. So today, maybe I am not sprinting, or even jogging. Today, maybe I am only warming up again, but I am still here, I showed up, I made a few calls, sent a few emails, and I have written this. Today the bulk of my day was not life changing, nor invigorating, but I am still moving forward, eye on my vision. And maybe, just maybe, this tribute to the not very rose-coloured side of success, will reach just one person and maybe, just maybe, it will change that person’s life.

Tomorrow is a new day 😊