Dear Readers,

We hear a lot about “overnight success” but the truth is what we hear about is the “win” not the toiling of blood, sweat, and tears to get there. I will go one further, no one talks about the hours spent, the advice taken and the path walked to get to the “yes” after a whole lot of  “no”.

This picture captures a “yes” that took five years to get.

I’ll go a step further, in this culture, we really highlight the success and tend to ignore or minimize how hard it was and is to reach said goal.

For example, one of my friends has been job searching and pretty discouraged in the pursuit, she went on dozens and dozens of interviews, all the while cobbling together a living with part-time work to keep the home fires burning. She could have given up after that 25th interview, but she didn’t. She got help and coaching and feedback and kept searching to find the right job and just recently (after a year of a LOT of “no” she got a “yes” .

Take another friend who worked in a pretty difficult job for 3 years, all the while auditioning and looking for her “dream job”- She found it and started it recently.

Take my friend who is pregnant after doctors told her it wasn’t possible. She had a miscarriage and a lot of false positives and now is deliriously happy to be pregnant.

Still another has toiled in her job with micro-managing bosses and difficult conditions and after a solid two years of dues paying, she has found an opportunity that would not have come to her otherwise.

I know lots of people who are in their “pursuit” right now and getting chased down with “no” but please, dear friend, don’t lose faith, keep going, go on one more interview, go to one more audition, make one more phone call, your “yes” is on its way, I can feel it!

My friend getting his PHD is really working hard, he is getting close to his goal and finding it a little hard to keep going so he hasn’t not found
his “yes” yet but it’s en route.

Another friend recently got laid off, no warning, just job over. She is smart, strong and capable so I KNOW whatever she does next will be AMAZING, but she doesn’t know yet what it is, AND she’s in pursuit of it.

I am pursuing another “yes” right now. It’s my health. After my daughter was born, I promised myself I would make working out a habit and be in pursuit of health, not just for me, but for my daughter as well. I want her to take care of her body the moment she knows what it is to walk and run.

So the clock is ticking and I have to do what’s hard. Like getting up early to swim, or not eating the cookie every time it’s offered. Why?

So in her life, when she is challenged by something, I can say,

“You are pursuing your yes right now, that means you are right on schedule with that “no”

I can’t think of a more important lesson to teach her than that.

Think About It.