The Truth About How Long Things Really Take

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That guitar gathering dust in your corner? You thought you'd be playing songs after a month.

You watched YouTube tutorials. You imagined yourself strumming around campfires. You pictured friends asking you to play something. Six months later, your fingers still fumble over basic chords.

Here's what nobody tells you about getting good at anything. Your brain lies to you about time. You think learning Spanish will take six months of casual Duolingo.

Reality? Fluent conversations happen after years of consistent practice. Even after you accept it'll take longer, you're still underestimating. You think you'll nail that presentation after running through it five times.

The pros rehearse fifty times. Then they rehearse fifty more. You think your business will click after launching version one. Most overnight successes took a decade and seventeen pivots. This isn't about being negative. This is about being real.

Because when you understand the actual timeline, something magical happens. You stop quitting at the first sign of difficulty. That entrepreneur who "suddenly" built a million-dollar company? They failed at three businesses before this one.

They coded for twelve hours a day for two years. They made a thousand sales calls that went nowhere. That influencer who "got lucky" with their viral content? They posted consistently for three years to an audience of twelve people.

They studied every successful creator. They rewrote their bio forty-seven times. That friend who "naturally" runs marathons? They couldn't jog around the block when they started. They trained through injuries, bad weather, and zero motivation.

They ran when they felt like it and especially when they didn't. The people who make it look easy have simply done the hard work when nobody was watching. They understood that mastery isn't a destination you arrive at. It's a process you commit to.

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So when you start something new, triple your timeline estimate. Then triple it again. Not to discourage you. To prepare you. Because when month six arrives and you're still struggling, you won't think you're failing.

You'll know you're exactly where you're supposed to be. The magic isn't in getting good fast. The magic is in staying committed when progress feels invisible. Everything worthwhile takes longer than you think.

Even when you think you've adjusted for that fact. That's not a bug. That's the feature that separates the people who make it from the people who don't.