You Don't Deserve Big Results Overnight

But there is a roadmap to getting big results.

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Sorry to burst your bubble.

Unknown creators and entertainers who create something that “goes viral” are labeled an “overnight success” - while the process that got them to that point is 99.9% of the time anything but an “overnight success.”

You won’t get big results overnight because you don’t deserve to get attention that quickly.

But don’t take my word for it. A writer who has accumulated more subscribers, views, and has made more money from writing said the same thing. Shoutout

Tom Kuegler

Screen capture from Notes.

So what do you do if you want to get big results? Tom gave us the roadmap.

Get in the Right Headspace.

“Expect NOTHING. Because you deserve nothing.”

That’s a little different than what we are told in our culture, isn’t it?

• You deserve to be happy.

• You deserve a bigger paycheck.

• You deserve a bigger, nicer house.

• You deserve better friends.

It’s sickening how selfish we have become. We really think we deserve to have all these good things happen to us because we’re different.

If you’re going to be a successful content creator, you have to get your mind right. Convince yourself that you deserve nothing. Nothing will be handed to you on a silver, microwavable platter.

Getting in the right headspace will prepare you for the next step.

Create without Expectations.

“Write off 6 months of work and expect NOTHING.”

Create consistently for six months without expecting any results.

It’s during this six-month period that you are training. Boxers and fighters train for months or years to prepare for a single fight. Creating online requires a training period too.

It’s also during this training period that you are building your library of content, which is something I learned from

Nicolas Cole

When you do achieve some success, you’ll have more content for your new audience to consume because you’ve been building and training secretly in the background.

Create - train - without expectations of seeing big results.

Ride the Wave.

“After 6 months, that’s when the exponential results start trickling in.”

I like the way Tom said this.

Even after those six months, it’s not like you’ll see big results immediately. It will be a “trickling build” to big results.

For example, here are the daily views from my main newsletter on Substack from October 2021 to September 2023.

Screen capture of total views.

While there have been a few huge spikes, most of the growth has been a slow trickle of increasing views. Ride the wave of consistent, trickling growth.

Keep surfing that wave and watch the wave get bigger.

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Maybe I’ll write something about this soon, but I wouldn’t be where I am as a writer without writers like Tom and Nicolas sharing their experiences, successes, and failures.

You don’t get where you are without help.

As you start to ride the wave, be sure to reach back and help someone else.