What The World Won't Tell You About Success

Modern culture is obsessed with the "event" of success.

Self-help gurus preach that to become rich and successful, you only need to believe that you already possess those qualities. Send out the right vibes, and the universe will reward you with everything you've ever wanted, manifested from the ether.

Social media influencers convince you that by simply following their methods of drop shipping, Etsy shops, AI copywriting, real estate automation, or multi-level marketing, you will be able to increase your current salary tenfold and work only one hour a day.

These propositions are irresistible. They prey on our desire to escape the current systems we live in, to exist in a manner where we don't have to sacrifice time for money, time that could be spent pursuing all the things you daydream about while you're at work.

The headlines will always highlight the 21-year-old tech entrepreneur who just sold their company for millions—a stroke of luck.

They will never mention the sleepless nights, the 16-hour workdays, being in debt, or living on ramen noodles. Nor will they mention the countless hours of self-education, the failures along the way, or the daily struggle of nearly giving up.

That part is the process.

Nobody wants to talk about the necessity of the process.

The process is hard. It's not glamorous; it's painful.

It confronts our false sense of hope for a better future by relying on some miraculous event of success. It challenges us to work harder than we already are.

It's a difficult message for anyone to accept, even if it's the truth.

Lack of Process

This lesson has been a major recurring theme in my own life as of late.

In the last year alone, my wife and I have left our conventional careers, started a YouTube channel, traveled to Thailand, decided to settle there, flown back home to sell our remaining possessions, rented a small piece of farmland, been adopted by 2 jungle cats, bought a car, opened a Thai business, taken a three-month road trip to escape wildfire season, and finally returned to our farm.

To say it was a chaotic year would be a gross understatement.

While we were away from our farm, we had ample opportunity to reflect on how the past year has been for us.

It became apparent to us that what we lacked was consistency and discipline, but most of all, a process.

Our YouTube channel was directionless, featuring a mix of vlogging, inspirational messages, restaurant reviews, and talking head videos. Most of our videos were an afterthought, lacking strategy, planning, and consistency. We put in minimal effort and self-education, and as a consequence, achieved less than ideal results.

Our land had remained mostly unchanged since the day we moved in. No plants were growing, there was no plan of action, and we had a long list of projects we had yet to begin.

In both of these endeavors, we had a vision, a dream of success. What we lacked were the steps to get there and the willingness to go through the process.

After all, how else does one get from the starting point to the finish line?

You can't learn to swim without getting wet.