Your dreams are hard and annoying

But you're doing amazing, sweetie

It’s February.

That initial buzz of New Year’s enthusiasm may already be fading.

Maybe you’re eyeing off your resolution – improving your fitness, learning to cook, or finally mastering French – only to feel the growth isn’t happening as quickly as you, or that persistent Duolingo Owl had hoped.

“Let’s review your mistakes”

You feel like a failure.

You never imagined it would be this hard.

You wonder if you should simply let it slide.

I’ve certainly wrestled with these moments of hesitation myself, especially with this newsletter.

There were days when I wanted to stop. The time constraints, creative lulls, and that persistent feeling of being an imposter can wear you down like listening to Fat Juicy & Wet by Sexyy Red and Bruno Mars.

The disappointment was amplified on those quiet weeks when no one commented, or shared, or subscribers drift away without a word.

The sense of stagnation, or moving backwards, becomes overwhelming.

But there is a way out. I did two simple things that worked for me, so I wanted to share them.

First, I accepted that this frustration – this sense of treading water – is a key component of success.

Every elite performer in sports, the arts, or master in any field has had to deal with this.

If excellence were immediate, it would lose its meaning.

Christopher Sommer, who once coached the USA Men’s Gymnastics National Team, explains how impatience and unrealistic timelines can derail us before we’ve even discovered what’s possible.

“Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process. The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home.”

In other words: fall in love with the ritual of showing up. Understand that most of your time will be spent in the steady, sometimes monotonous grind that ultimately leads you toward those moments of triumph.

It’s by pushing through the inevitable plateaus and troughs that you develop the resilience and skills needed for long-term success.

Nobody can do the hard work for you.

Not even ChatGPT has my je ne sais quoi

Which leads me to the second thing…

I thought, “What if I could make the work feel less hard for someone else?”

Be the cheerleader for a friend who’s putting themselves out there.

As Kim Kerton, host of the Unemployed and Afraid podcast, suggests: if you know someone who’s making a brave start on something new, consider how much it would mean for them to hear a supportive voice.

“I follow them. I like their posts when I see them, drop a comment, save the post even though I don't need to (because it’s good for their algorithm impact), and share it—even if I have no personal interest in the actual product.”

I am rooting for you. We are all rooting for you.

A small display of encouragement can make an enormous difference to someone in the throes of self-doubt.

After all, one day—perhaps in a lonely, frustrating February—that person might be you.

Author’s note:

If that person is you, and you’re in need of a cheerleader, please reach out—either by replying to this email or sending me a DM at @procopics on Instagram—and let me know what you’re up to. I’d love to cheer you on.