The other day I was helping my girlfriend tidy her room (not the one in the picture, she’d kill me) but it wasn’t far from it!
The thing with tidying a room is that once you begin there’s a point – usually an hour or so in – that you realise things are worse than when you started.
Suddenly you’re organising draws you wish you had never opened, that small piece of carpet you could see is now covered with a pile of clothes ready for the charity shop and reading old love letters has stolen hours of progress!
“Everything worth doing comes with a dip.”
Every journey begins with a convincing vision of the future that motivates the current you to get off your ass and do something about it.
For some people it’s a carrot (a clean room) and for others it’s a stick (I can’t live this way any longer) either way, change is inevitable but the desired outcome is often based on our commitment to the cause and our testicular fortitude to keep going when things look bleak.
Like every heroes journey, things will always get bad, worse, then unbearable before you see any glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and this is a lot like entrepreneurship.
The Hero’s Journey
The dip is the gatekeeper. The universal deflector of dreams. It singles out the ‘have-a-go heroes’ from the ‘there’s no turning backs’ and only grants the wishes of those who efforts match their hunger.
Next time you take on a challenge in your life whether it’s an unruly room or creating your own business, learn to expect the dip and greet its arrival as recognition of progress and mental preparation for your future success.
Further Reading: The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick)
Seth Godin on how to push through the dip
“The resistance is a symptom that you’re on the right track.” - Seth Godin
