500 Words a Week - Almost Immediately Takes a Long Time

On the Rich Roll Podcast, Rich was interviewing Mike Birbiglia. In talking about Mike’s past, Rich mentioned that upon moving to New York post his time at Georgetown, Mike immediately got on the David Letterman show.

To which Mike responded, “almost immediately felt like a long time”.

Almost immediately was two years of work.

So often in life, especially when we’re in the middle of figuring things out, things can feel slow. Like we’re not moving forward at all. But in the future looking back on this moment, it will feel like just a blip in the grand extent of our lives.

When we hear the stories of successful people, we often hear a lot of “and then”;

I left university, and then got a great job making substantial income.

I moved to LA, and then I got on my first movie.

I signed with an agent, and then I got my first book deal.

What we miss is that these “and then” moments often last for between 2-5 years. It’s not just a trail of admiration and praise, there were quiet years, years of uncertainty, years of getting up each day not knowing if things were going to work out or not. These are skipped over in many of the stories we hear around us. But I think they are important. Because so many of us are experiencing these moments currently.

I wonder how many stories there are, where people didn’t make it through this “and then” phase. Who gave up on themselves, or could longer deal with the uncertainty and unknown. Maybe no one told them how long “almost immediately” actually takes. Maybe they never believed in themselves enough to attempt an “and then” phase. For it’s a painful one. Waking up each day with the constant thought of will this work out. Will this gamble and risk pay off? But while it is a gamble and risk, we don’t want to leave the things we want in life up to chance. 

When those who made it through the “and then” phase divulge what they did, it’s often along the lines of; they had 150 meetings with potential investors, they messaged anyone and everyone, they had a rejection rate of 90%. They got up on every stage that would let them, often getting booed and heckled, yet still returning the next night to perform. They didn’t take rejection personally, but they did take it seriously. Letting each “no” refine how they showed up, how they shared their value, how they spoke about what they do.

So if you’re in one of those in-between moments right now, don’t mistake it for failure.

Two years feels long now. But one day we'll look back on this time and call it “almost immediately”.