There’s this meme I can’t get out of my head. A guy, actor and politician, gets asked: name or fame? Name or money? And he goes, name. Because fame and money follows, brother. Money follows.
That’s the meme I can’t get out of my head. Except for me, it’s results follow.
Here’s something I’ve noticed, and I think everybody notices it. Whenever you take an action, it’s not certain when the result is going to come in. There’s always a lapse. Unless and until you’re eating sugary stuff or enjoying chocolates. That result is certain. It’s immediate. Chicken is included.
But on the good side? Results follow.
You spend like three months in the gym, and after three months you lift the weights easily. That’s one result you can see right away. The other thing is your body and muscles start showing. You can feel the biceps. But that comes only after three, four, maybe six months. And it comes. Certainly.
So results follow. They’re not immediate, but they come.
And it’s the same with any other craft. You read something, then you try to apply it to your life. When you start doing it, you’re really, really bad at it. So bad that you should quit. But if you don’t quit, you keep at it. Then these small actions compound over time and they give you results. The results make you happy. That happiness makes you do it again. And that creates a perpetual loop.
If nothing is happening right now
You’ve been putting in the work and nothing is showing up, so you’re stressed. That’s normal. That’s the lapse. The work is landing somewhere you can’t see yet.
If nothing is coming up, nothing is happening, the only thing you need to know is this: results follow.
DHH wrote this piece recently, What on earth are you dooming about?, and I keep going back to one line from it: “This is not the time to doom, baby. This is the time to bloom.” He’s talking about the whole world. I’m talking about your biceps and your side projects. Same thing, brother. Stop dooming, keep doing.
I know, this sounds like LARPing. I’m LARPing. And I’m no gym bro, I’m just a sheer optimist. I’m laughing as I write this, and that’s the way. But that’s the only thing that has come into my mind, so that’s what I want to say.
Results follow, brother. Results follow.
