There’s a stage in business where everything feels uphill.

You’re doing the work, creating content, reaching out, improving, yet the results don’t match your effort. The wheel feels heavy, and no matter how hard you push, it refuses to spin faster. Your content is strong, but few people see it. Your offer is solid, but you’re struggling to close the next deal. And the silence between your actions and the market’s response starts to test your conviction and your self-belief.

That stage breaks most people. Not because they lack potential, but because they underestimate what this early phase demands.

_{The First Gap: Expectation vs Reality}

Almost everyone misjudges what it takes to gain traction.

They assume a handful of actions will build momentum when it often takes hundreds, and sometimes thousands. They expect progress to be visible in weeks when it usually takes months, and sometimes years.

I once coached a senior marketer from a global agency who wanted to attract better job opportunities. We worked on their positioning and outreach strategy.

Halfway through the session, he said, “I’ve already tried that. It’s not working.”

I asked, “How many messages did you send?”

He replied, “Maybe three to five.”

I told him, “Try thirty to fifty before you decide it doesn’t work.”

He realised the problem wasn’t the strategy. It was the sample size.

Most people quit before they’ve done enough to know whether something actually works.

_{The Second Gap: Intention vs Execution}

There’s often a gap between the effort people believe they’re putting in and the effort they actually are. They feel busy but aren’t making real progress.

They spend hours refining plans, tweaking content, adjusting offers, doing anything except the uncomfortable volume of work required to build momentum.

It’s a subtle trap, mistaking activity for progress.

You end the week exhausted but no closer to a breakthrough because most of your time went into spinning your wheels without any forward momentum.

_{The Third Gap: Perception vs Time}

Even when the strategy is sound and the execution consistent, impatience can still derail progress. We expect results to appear as quickly as we apply effort, but growth rarely works that way. It compounds invisibly for a while before it becomes visible.

Every post, every message, every uncomfortable action is a deposit. But those deposits mature on their own schedule.

The stretch between doing the work and seeing the proof is where most people give up. They confuse the absence of visible progress with the absence of progress altogether.

If you can endure that silence long enough, the curve bends in your favour.

What once felt heavy begins to feel manageable. Not because the work gets easier, but because you get better.

_{The Breakthrough Point}

The wheel will never spin on its own. But if you stay in the game long enough, everything starts to feel lighter because you’ve built leverage.

Your systems get tighter, your skills get sharper, and your audience gets larger. You start recognising patterns and multiplying the impact of each action.

The weight of the work doesn’t disappear. You simply become capable of carrying more of it with less strain. Just like your body adapts to lifting heavier at the gym.

Your effort starts to compound, and what once drained you begins to reward you.

If you’re in that heavy phase now, take it as a sign you’re exactly where you should be.

Most people quit before gaining any meaningful traction, because they stop before they’ve done enough for the work to speak for itself.

The breakthrough comes to those who stay long enough to earn it.

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Until next time, keep creating!

Omara