If you're like me, you may excel at picking up a skill at the beginning. But when things get a bit tough, or you start to feel like you're plateauing, or when you feel like other people are surpassing you, it may be easy to just quit.
More often than not, our fear of failure and lack of perseverance led us to quit prematurely and move on from one project to another. 😨
This mindset continued on throughout my recent years, specifically during my creative journey. I’d jump from creating a mini-documentary series to a video podcast, from creating talking head videos to writing newsletters and blogs. I call this the Shiny Project Syndrome.
I suspect a lot of creators and entrepreneurs may run into this problem as well. Although our goals are the same, we tend to try new projects just because it’s the new and trendy thing to do. 🤩
I’ll be honest, I’ve done this way more times than I’d like, and sometimes I feel like I’m still running into this problem.
But over the past few months, I promised myself I’d work on building grit and resilience by continuing the projects I started at the beginning of 2021. Pivoting here and there is fine, but I’d make sure I gave myself a real chance to work through the struggle and pick myself up when I feel like things aren’t working out.
Building Grit Within Myself
I came up with the simplest idea of Intentional Creator back in October of 2020. The idea was to help creators and entrepreneurs overcome certain obstacles that prevented them from their goals.
Over time, the idea had been refined, and the project itself had gone through multiple iterations, but it’s still solving the same problem I wanted to solve many months ago.
Between October 2020 and now, I’ve had multiple points throughout my journey where I felt like quitting. I did not reach the number of interested members when I first announced it in December. 📊
To some, it seems like a lost cause and a sign to just quit before starting. But I am very passionate about Intentional Creator and what it aims to do. It took many therapy sessions and vulnerable conversations with other creators/entrepreneurs to get over my fears and continue on.
As I continue my beta version of the community, I hope to provide as much value as I can while making improvements based on the feedback for the future.
I learned that it takes time to dial your creative/entrepreneurial project in. Until you put enough time, effort, and work into the project, you’ll never know the impact it could have on others.