Time has to happen

It's one of the hardest things to internalize about building a career, and also why we need to get started developing a strategy now.

Hi,

Too often in life, the answer to “why am I not having success?” is that time has to happen. It is the not satisfying so most teachers and coaches will never say that part out loud, which leaves entrepreneurs thinking that something must be broken in their own process.

So, I’ll say the quiet part out loud. Even if you have a perfect strategy, it doesn’t matter until you execute it.

• If you want to make $100k in 2024, guess what? The whole year still has to happen.

• If you want 10,000 new subscribers in the next six months, guess what? You have to set metrics and plod through a lot of muck to get there.

• If you want to ship 12x this year, guess what? You actually have to build and create those, and it takes time.

We often operate with the belief that if we have the right plan, success will follow quickly. But time is an inevitable factor that no one can circumvent.

This was a mantra for me at Writer MBA, because a conference is the ultimate “time has to happen product.” Even though people do buy throughout the year, upwards of 25% buy within the last six weeks, and hardly anyone buys until three months before.

That said, vendors still want their money early, which makes for a fun cash crunch challenge. It’s impossible to announce speakers until you, like, have speakers to announce.

You can run ads, craft highly persuasive email campaigns, or engage potential buyers in person, but for most people, it simply doesn’t matter until a particular window opens. Most won’t buy until three months before an event or product launch. Sure, there are tactics to create urgency and move things along, but if your portfolio consists of a few articles, a single release, or if you’ve only been building your audience for a short while, success won’t appear overnight.

This brings us to a crucial point: planning for time to happen. The reality is that time needs to pass for success to materialize, but the way you approach that time can make the waiting less stressful and more productive. Instead of focusing solely on speeding up the process, it’s about getting comfortable with the time it takes and understanding how to plan for it wisely.

A lot of my consulting revolves around a key question: Is it reasonable to expect the success you want, based on everything you’ve done so far? It’s a question that forces us to evaluate our progress realistically. Here are some indicators that can help you assess whether your success expectations are reasonable:

1. Do you have a sufficient track record?
   If you’ve been working at something for a few months but expect the results of someone who’s been in the game for years, you may need to adjust your expectations. Success often builds over time, and a consistent body of work or long-term engagement with your audience is usually necessary before you see big results.

2. Are you measuring the right metrics?
   Often, success doesn’t show up immediately in the most obvious ways, like sales numbers or subscriber counts. Instead, it may appear as growing engagement, positive feedback, or increased visibility. Focus on the smaller, incremental wins that signal you’re on the right path, even if they’re not the ultimate goal.

3. Have you put in the necessary effort?
   Have you done everything in your power to set yourself up for success? This includes not just the creation of your product (whether that’s writing, marketing, etc.) but also how effectively you’ve communicated with your audience, built relationships, and leveraged opportunities. If the effort isn’t there, the results won’t be either.

4. Are external factors in your favor?
   Sometimes, success hinges on things beyond your control, like market conditions or timing. If you’re in a competitive industry or trying to launch during a time when the market is saturated, your success might take longer than expected. It’s important to be mindful of factors that could affect your trajectory.

5. Have you given it enough time?
   Finally, and most importantly, have you allowed enough time for success to materialize? This is where the concept of letting time happen really becomes important. Many people give up just before they would have seen the fruits of their labor. Assess how long others in your field took to reach similar levels of success, and give yourself that same grace.

Rather than obsessing over the final outcome, focus on the process. Every big goal, whether it’s making $100k or releasing an album, can be broken down into smaller milestones. Those incremental steps not only help you feel a sense of accomplishment along the way but also make the passing of time feel more manageable. It’s the routine that matters most.

Gary Keller and Jay Papasan wrote an amazing book called The One Thing. In it, they talk about the benefits of finding the one, single thing which could change your life forever, The Big Domino, and putting an inordinate about of time and effort into tipping it over. In order for the domino to tip, there are all sorts of smaller dominos that need to fall, too, but all in service of toppling the big domino.

Unfortunately, it takes time to set up these dominos to fall, but we humans like want everything Veruca Salt fast.

Patience isn’t a natural skill for most of us. It’s something we have to practice. Every time you resist the urge to push too hard, every time you let things unfold at their natural pace, you’re strengthening your patience muscle. Over time, you’ll find the waiting period less overwhelming because you’ve trained yourself to endure it.

If you’ve just started, it’s not fair to expect the same level of success as someone who’s been at it for years. Success usually builds gradually, and part of getting comfortable with letting time happen is acknowledging that this growth takes time. Be patient, but also be strategic.

I believe you only get 1-2 shots to level up a year, and 90% of your time is moving the pieces around in the background to make that lurch happen. You rise to the level of the structures you have in place, and most of life is building those structures so that when you make your leap, they catch and support you.

Yes, you might be able to make a gigantic leap quickly, but if your structure is shaky, or if you haven’t constructed it at all, you’ll likely fall back down to Earth and hurt yourself, possibly irreparably, in the process. Most of the successful people you see have either been building their support structure for years or are about to flame out because they grew too fast.

Now, this brings us to the question I ask many of my clients: Is the success you expect reasonable given the efforts you’ve put forth and the support structures you’ve put in place? Often, the answer is no. That’s not a negative. We just have to realign your expectations with reality. Do you have enough of a track record to expect success at the level you’re aiming for? Have you been consistent enough in your efforts? Do you have the network in place to support you? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves, honestly, when assessing our path.

I ask myself these same question constantly. I’m incredibly ambitious, and with that comes impatience. I want to achieve my goals yesterday, and I sometimes forget that I’m only human. I remind myself, and now I remind you, that it’s not just you who feels this way. We all have to balance ambition with the understanding that time is a fundamental component of success.

So, what do you think?

• What’s one area of your creative journey where you’ve had to let time happen, and how did you manage that waiting period?

• Do you feel like your current goals are realistic based on the time and effort you’ve already put in? Why or why not?

• What strategies do you use to stay patient and productive while waiting for results to materialize?

Let us know in the comments.