Process Over Outcome

If you want to be good at something or successful at something, you need to fall in love with the work. You need to enjoy the process of getting where you are going and not just the destination. It took me 14 years to achieve a BJJ black belt, 6 years to graduate college, and I've run my business for 5 years now. I have made a ton of mistakes and still do, but I love the learning, I love the breakthroughs that come after hard times, I love small victories, and I love the accomplishment. I've accomplished incredibly difficult things many times in my life and none of them came easy. There were no shortcuts, no easy ways to the top. Nobody really cares if you're a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt if the skills and knowledge don't match. Even fewer people care if you're a decent grappler when you think globally. This has to be for you, and it has to be about optimizing what you can do with what you have. If you want to be a quick black belt, then you should be in the gym all the time. If you want to be a well-rounded human being that's also a decent grappler, then enjoy the journey. This is a hard activity; it never gets easier if you don't appreciate the path to competency.