Why Dreamers Usually Quit

In my line of work, I work with a lot of “idea people”.

Almost without exception, they start out extremely passionate about something, then within a matter of weeks they fizzle out.

The idea they were once on fire about is now the furthest thing from their mind.

It’s amazing how quickly people can give up on something they once claimed they cared so much about. It’s painfully predictable.

It’s also sad to watch because a lot of the ideas people have are really good, they just don’t see the light of day because the people behind them don’t fully commit.

What I’ve learned from working with idea people is this:

The fundamental difference between people who accomplish their dreams and people who don’t is in the way they deal with internal resistance.

Internal resistance is the feeling you get just before you sacrifice something you have for something you want.

• It’s the feeling you get immediately after you seriously consider posting something on social media that you don’t normally post. 
• It’s the feeling just before you speak out in a meeting about an idea of yours. 
• It’s the voice that tells you that the thing you want to become great at isn’t worth the time you’d have to put into it.

We all have reasons why we shouldn’t go above what’s normal, and all of those reasons are forms of internal resistance. 

The difference between people to execute on their dreams and people who don’t comes down to this:

When faced with internal resistance, people who make progress towards their dreams are the ones who embrace a baby-step mentality. People who quit things tend to think in terms of long strides, abrupt progress, and huge bursts of energy. But people who accomplish great things are faithful with a little. They embrace the simple beauty of taking the next baby step.

They continue to take little steps over and over until they’ve created a “momentum snowball”.

It might take them a while to build that small snowball – but day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year – they pack just a little more snow on it.

It’s uphill for a while, but they inevitably reach an inflection point, and the work begins to pay off. Hence the 25-year overnight success.

What successful people do usually isn’t that extraordinary or groundbreaking. 

Successful people show up consistently, build trust, and deliver on their promises.

If ever there were a summarized secret to success, this would be it: Find something that’s important to you, see if other people need it, then take baby steps towards it for a really long time.

The question for you is, what’s your plan for internal resistance?

Internal resistance can come in a lot of forms. 

It can be distraction or self doubts or lack of enthusiasm.

Whatever it may be, remember this:

The key to seeing incredible things happen may simply be found in the mundane task of taking daily baby steps through internal resistance. 

Assume that nothing you come up with is going to be so extraordinary that it’s going to “take off”.

Many of the greatest organizations we know and love were just semi-good ideas executed with unrelenting effort.

• Chick-Fil-A started as the Dwarf Grill in 1946 and didn’t open the first Chick-Fil-A until 21 years later in 1967.
• Walmart started as Walton’s 5 & 10 in 1950 and didn’t open the first Walmart until 1962.
• Amazon started as an online book store in 1995 and didn’t turn its first profit until 6 years later.

So whatever it is you’ve been dreaming of doing, go do that on a really small scale today.

Weigh your options, count the cost, but don’t overthink it.

Imperfection times execution over time plus grace equals momentum.

So keep moving forward.

(And use this tool to figure out what your dream actually is.)