While it’s true that success is possible, it’s equally true that success won’t come overnight.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and life is a day-to-day journey.

It takes time to get things right.

Any destination worth visiting is worth the time and effort it takes to get there.

Last December, I had the opportunity to be part of a TEDx event called the TEDx Lakeshore Drive for women.

It was a bit of a last-minute production as the organizer was given the rights less than two weeks before the event.

I had a talk that I had been working on that I was able to adjust to use on a TEDx stage: “How to find your Kilimanjaro.”

The entire process was a really good experience for me.

I realized what can be accomplished in such a short period of time. The number of hours the organizer put into getting sponsors and setting up the event was truly amazing.

This was a virtual event, in that we recorded everything ahead of time. And then a few of us showed up in Chicago in person to watch all the videos. 

One of the hardest things for me about this event was recording my video. This kind of format was new to me.

In order to succeed at anything, we have to take that first step.

The reality is that giving a talk on a stage is entirely different than recording your presentation.

When you’re on a stage if someone coughs in the background, or if a dog barks from outside, you just keep on giving your presentation. You don’t stop the presentation and try again. One shot is all you get.

This can be both liberating and terrifying at the same time. But for me, it’s mostly liberating. Things happen in a live presentation and that’s part of the experience.

Overall, I know that when I’m on the stage—I get one shot. And I do my very best and walk away from it knowing I gave it my best.

But when I’m recording my presentation, things are very different. I feel an obligation to make the recording the very best it can be.

Now, I’m not a believer in perfection. I don’t believe that things are ever going to be perfect, but I still wanted it to be good.

Sadly, I recorded that presentation at least 55 times. And that’s not even an exaggeration.

In the end, it still wasn’t perfect. There were still mistakes and there were still things that I wanted to redo.

At some point, you just have to say, “Okay, it is enough.”

The important part of the entire experience for me was getting my message out there for others to see.

This format was something much different from anything else I had done before, but it was exciting.

Overall, it was a very neat experience.

But what I’m learning now is that giving a speech is one thing. Getting people to actually click on the speech is an entirely different matter.

It’s not easy getting your information out there for people to see, especially when the world and the internet are full of all kinds of information.

You have to be looking in a certain place to find anything. And every social media site has its own algorithms that only show your work to certain people.

It can be really frustrating putting so much work into a message when only a handful of people actually see it.

But then I’m reminded of why I want to share my message in the first place.

If my story can have an impact on even one person, then it’s all worth it.

Of course, I would still love for more people to see and listen to the work that I’ve done. But at the end of the day, that’s not what really matters.

What matters is that my message is out there. And because it’s out there, someone will hear it and hopefully, it will impact them in a positive way.

I think that a lot of times we are used to receiving instant gratification from the things we do. And when that doesn’t come, we get frustrated and often quit because we don’t feel we’re even making a difference.

For example, when I set out to write my book, I thought it would instantly change the world and quickly rise to bestseller status. I really believed in the message and knew it could make a difference. But the reality is that there are so many good books out there.

Success is possible, but it takes time to grow something special.

I absolutely believe that success is possible for all of us. But it takes time, patience, and consistent effort.

My favorite example of this is losing weight. I’ll say I’m going to lose weight, spend a week focused on those efforts, and by the end of the week, the scale hasn’t moved. Then I’ll get so frustrated that there hasn’t been a significant change, as silly as that may sound.

But the truth is, success takes time in anything we do. And just like anything else, being successful in losing weight will require time, patience, and consistent effort in order to see significant results.

We have to put in the work, and we have to spend the time to really make things happen in life.

Most of all, we need to be kind to ourselves when success doesn’t happen overnight. It rarely does.

I’m giving another TEDx talk in April. But this time it will be in person.

I’m taking everything I’ve learned from this experience to move forward and enjoy every minute of this journey.

Instead of getting frustrated over what I didn’t do, I’m going to enjoy what I did.

I hope in your own journey, you do the same.

While it’s true that success takes time—you can still enjoy the journey.