The Daily Grind: How Ordinary Work Becomes Extraordinary

I used to think I could accomplish a huge task in one day. Finish that school project. Write that novel. Lose those extra pounds. It was always a let down when I couldn’t. It was also disappointing when any task took longer than I thought it should because it ever did. I was so jealous of others accomplishments. I thought I would never get there.

What I didn’t realize was the people that I was jealous of were a lot older than me. I didn’t know they had worked overtime during their younger years to get where they are today. The long hours and the setbacks and the small victories weren’t known to me.

We don’t buy the 1,000 light bulbs that Edison made that didn’t work; we just buy the one that did. We weren’t there when he tried his first lightbulb, and he learned his first lesson about light. We weren’t there for the 1,000 lessons after that. Nor were we there to read Stephen King’s first drafts or witness Micheal Jordan’s first layup. No one sees the daily grind; they just see the accomplishments.

That’s why I thought I could complete significant accomplishments overnight. I thought that’s what people did. I didn’t get to see what they went through to get where they were. That’s why I think people have a skewed view of accomplishments. People don’t know what it takes to succeed.

We have all heard the phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” The original sentence was found in a French proverb in 1190 and didn’t make its debut in English until…