I'm working on a doctorate, studying for a certification and building my own business. None of it looks like a damn thing from the outside.
No promotion to announce. No diploma to frame yet. No client wins to post about at this time. Just me showing up every day doing work that won't pay off for months. Maybe even a few more years. That's the weird part about playing the long games. The progress is invisible until suddenly it isn't.
Three courses done toward the doctorate. Sounds like nothing when I say it out loud. Twelve or thirteen left, but six months ago it was zero. That's movement, but nobody sees it but me.
Flash cards for the cert exam. There is maybe a hundred of them now. Working on possibly mind mapping things out. Can't put the letters after my name yet, but the knowledge is building. It is building slowly and quietly and nobody sees that either.
Prospecting, sending messages, building a pipeline of leads and most of it goes nowhere. The conversations that do happen might turn into something eventually, or maybe they won;t. But the system is up and running. From the outside it looks like I'm just screwing around on my laptop and social media.
This is the part nobody posts about. The middle, the grind before results show up. That long stretch where you're making progress but can't prove it to anyone. That includes myself sometimes. It's frustrating as fuck.
It is hard to stay motivated when there's nothing to show for your efforts or no external validation and no finish line visible. I juust have to trust that the work matters and keep going anyway.
Some days I believe that. Some days I wonder what the hell I'm doing. But I keep showing up because the alternative is starting over from zero later. And I'm too damn old and tired for that. The progress is real even when nobody sees it. Even when I can't see it.
Anyone else grinding in the middle with nothing to show yet? How do you keep going?
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
-Images are my own unless otherwise noted.
-Photos edited using MS Paint and/or iPhone SE.
-Page Dividers from The Terminal Discord.
You're studying for your Doctorate? That's amazing. I didn't realize you have a Masters or Bachelor's and were on the path to your Doctorate. That's so exciting and must be a lot of work, it's years of study isn't it?
Becca 🌷
Yep, working toward it at least. Most people don't know that about me, even offline friends. Especially these recent years with my cognitive challenges most wouldn't think it. Yes, it is years of study, but it has been in subjects I have enjoyed mostly.
I can attest to this, that grind, that sweat and that frustration during such process is really the storyline.. Everyone is just after the result but not the process. Just as in relation to academic pursuit. Everyone is just after the end result not the. Thanks for this
You're welcome. Looks like you had an unfinished thought there at the end.
Those days can sometimes be the worst, but it's when you know you are building something. Best of luck to you on your journey!
Yeah, like I said, it is a grind right now, but I know it will be worth it.
I sucked at academics, couldn't last for more than two semesters. And to top that off I was a disappointment to my Mom not to be anywhere in her league.
My training to become a Nurse was different, intense and short, crash coursed and offered a job in ten months because our system is in shortage of trained staff,
Today the system is still has a staffing shortage.
My middle grind blew by so fast that it didn't register,
Good luck on the rest of your studies @coinjoe
I am not sure if mine is a middle grind or a mid-life crisis :-)
This is your motivation. Been there, done that years ago in a way and understand what you're going through. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other. There's no other way.
Good luck and lots of patience.
Then you understand. Thanks. Yes, one step at a time.