If you predicate all your hard work on gaining admission to one prestigious college, you’ve given one college all the power. That single moment in time when the admissions decision arrives will validate or invalidate four years of your hard work. For families who approach the process that way, it’s no wonder it feels like a high-stakes arms race.
But success (or a lack of it) can almost never be traced to a single moment in time. Rather, success comes from your willingness to keep going.
Most successful students, executives, teachers, musicians, athletes, social workers, investment bankers, software engineers, etc. didn’t get that way because lightning struck on one particular day. They got that way because they kept going. They worked hard, learned, and got a little better at their craft, bit by bit, every day. When they made mistakes, they dusted themselves off and learned from them. Then they kept going. When you keep going, the effort and learning from all those individual days starts to add up. Projects, businesses, bands, and teams work the same way.
Yesterday passed by me before I remembered that it was exactly five years ago—October 12, 2009—that I started writing this blog every day. I haven’t missed a day since. Some posts are much better than others. But writing every day takes away any pressure of creating a lightning bolt. One post, once a day, bit by bit. Five years later, I’ve got a collection of writing and a blog that some people actually read.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. And I hope you’ll keep going with me.