How Long Will It Take?

If you order a cup of coffee, it’s ready in about 5 minutes.
If you order a new sofa online, it might arrive in 3 months.
If you order a fleet of commercial airplanes, the lead time is 2-5 years.

What if the thing you want is a friend? Or the recognition of a colleague? Or to create a company you’re proud of?  How long will that take?

It’s easier to be patient, and keep doing the work (or the waiting) when there’s a standard for how long something will take.

When the answer is “it depends” it’s easier to become distracted along the way, and harder to measure the progress you’re actually making.

One person might say “gee, I don’t know. Look how far we have to go!”

But another person could look at the same situation and say: “No, no, look! Do you see that, right there? That’s a sign we are improving. See that mishap over there? Look how much we learned from that.  I don’t know how long this will take, but the signs of progress are everywhere.”

It’s not about voicing positivity you don’t believe in.  It’s about learning to recognize the progress that is already there.