Words may be deceptive but actions speak for themselves
John was generally misunderstood, he always saw the world differently from those around him. He would enthusiastically share his ideas with people in his close cycle but they didn’t really understand him. Even his parents had a hard time dealing with him because he always wanted to do things his own way. John felt isolated and alone so he decided to withdraw from the world. In his mind, there was really no point talking if you were not going to be understood or worse, misunderstood. After all, we all know the famous phrase “actions speak louder than words.” So John took a step back to assess his strategy and went on a long self-discovery mission with the aim of developing himself.
Getting lost in the Internet of things
We live in a time in human history when we have abundant information. Streams and streams of content flow through our gadgets through social media platforms, television, radio and many other mediums. We are bombarded by information from all sides that it can get overwhelming sometimes. The world is closer than ever before and social media continues to bridge the gap between us. Everything moves fast and we are only too eager to consume. In the midst of this, success stories litter the streets of social media and it’s easy to get drowned by the sounds of celebration.
Somehow we forget that growth is cultivated behind the scenes. People don’t often post about the background work that produces the success stories we eventually read on social media. We forget that all we really get is an announcement that is the culmination of weeks, months and years of hard work. We barely catch a glimpse of their harvest after so much time, sweat and effort they put in during the planting season. In spite of this, we put ourselves down and think we are not good enough. We criticize our work rate and question our skills and abilities.
Cultivating growth away from the noise
Interestingly, we may not have put in any work to reap a harvest because you can’t reap when you didn’t sow. Or maybe, we don’t recognize that we are still in our planting season. Either way, growth and success take time and are best cultivated behind the scenes, away from all the noise. You need to give yourself time to improve, to develop yourself as a person. It took a few tries for Mark Zuckerberg to ultimately build Facebook. Serena Williams was on the tennis court most days during her early years sharpening her skills before she became the global star we now know. And the list goes on and on.
The point is growth will come if you are consistently putting in the work. Don’t allow yourself to get swayed by the things you see on social media and the internet. People don’t go about posting their failures so remember that! Celebrate with them when they celebrate and use it as fuel to power you to push yourself to work harder. Eventually, the results will come and when they do, people will listen.
The proof is in the results
A good number of years down the line, John finally hit his stride and the results started coming. The ideas he had tried to explain all those years ago were beginning to come together and became clearer for people to see. Everyone now wanted to hear his ideas, work with him, and be mentored by him. He could now propose ideas and people will agree because he had the results to show.
People may not always understand or relate to what you are trying to achieve. And it’s not always easy to stand your ground and persevere when everyone around you is doing something else. But if you believe that what you’re doing is right and you stay true to yourself, if you put in that work to develop yourself despite the challenges, the results will come and speak for you, louder than any words you can string together.
