🎶 It’s our anniversary 🎶 Anniversary 🎶
Remember that song from Tony! Toni! Toné! ?
My college boyfriend made a mixtape with it for our first anniversary. Yes! I’m that old!
I hum it every time I cross a milestone.
Monday, when I returned to the office after my restorative retreat, I hummed it again. As I caught up on emails, I got a surprise.
My 5th Work Anniversary!
In all my years, and you can tell that they’re many from the mixtape reference, this is my second time making it to 5 years at a job.
Both times were not continuous.
I started working at this company in 2017. Left in January 2021. Then returned in November 2022 when I needed to focus on caring for my parents and did not have the capacity for fluctuating income that depended on marketing.
I appreciate that they were gracious enough to honor all the time I served. I will be at this company until I retire or until they kick me out.
As fate would have it, one of my coworkers celebrated his 20th anniversary with the company this week as well.
What struck me was that he’s 10 years younger than I. It got me thinking about the importance of longevity.
Through experience, I’ve gleaned a couple key elements of mastery.
Elements of Mastery: Consistency
Consistency is definitely one of the elements of mastery.
Showing up day in and day out with some effort towards your desire goes a long way. The effort can be miniscule. Minimal even. As long as you’re consistent, you will move forward.
I’ve achieved many successes through being consistent. Completing 6 half marathons. Losing over 80lbs. Learning Spanish.
I rely on consistency so much that I now measure success, not by attaining my end goal, but by whether or not I did the thing today to get me to my end goal.
From experience, I know that if I keep putting in the ‘work’, I WILL achieve the goal.
Elements of Mastery: Longevity
Another ingredient I’m being pointed to over and over in this season is longevity.
It’s a little like consistency, but here’s the nuance.
I can be consistent for a year, 2, 3, even 5 years. I hit milestones over those time spans, but I’ve never gone beyond 5 years. I’ll even say that I haven’t gone beyond 3 years because I usually take a break in the 5 years (for 6 to 20 months).
Take blogging for example.
I started blogging in 2005 with Balanced Life Center. I wrote daily for 3 years. It chronicled my spiritual awakening.
Then I stopped.
I started blogging again in 2011. I continued on Balanced Life Center, then moved all those posts to Working Mystic. It was more focused on me teaching spiritual principles.
I stopped in 2015~ish.
I started writing here in January 2023 and posted weekly from January 2024.
Balanced Life Center and Working Mystic grew to solid platforms. 600 subscribers. In today’s numbers, that’s like 1700.
I had deep relationships with those subscribers. We built community. Over the years, I met about 200 of them in person. I would even send snail mail to them.
I look at some of the bloggers who started with me in 2005 and stayed the course and I see how they’ve grown their platforms today. I realize that staying the course is a key component of their success.
This is not about comparison. This is an observation.
I see it in all arenas. Friends who got married when I did and stayed married. Sole sisters who continued on the pavement. Even creators that I followed over the years who continued with their craft.
All evidence that consistency AND longevity are keys to success.
I didn’t know that in my 20’s or 30’s.
Lessons From My 20’s And 30’s
In my 20’s, I thought life would be over by 45. I was trying to get to things as soon as possible. I thought I could skip steps.
In my 30’s I realized that if I was consistent, I would have some success. Writing daily grew my community and gave me the baseline for launching my coaching practice. I had a body of work.
It wasn’t until my late 40’s that I started realizing that consistency is just a piece of the puzzle. I needed to stay consistent over decades.
The Cost of Starting Over
The cost of starting anything is significant.
The cost of starting AGAIN is almost crippling.
Starting again costs more than starting from nothing because you not only have to pay AGAIN to start, it also costs to forgive yourself and release the shame from stopping in the first place.
When I committed to weekly letters in January, I committed for the next 7 years. Not quite a decade, but longer than 3.
The Benefit of Going the Distance
Rather than dictate that I want x subscribers by xxx. I’m genuinely curious about how Letters from Nneka will unfold over the next 7 years.
What happens if I practice writing personal essays for 7 years?
What themes will emerge from this space?
Looking at my Substack from this perspective feels expansive. It feels sustainable, even regenerative.
Every letter - an investment.
A tiny bit toward my body of work. Maybe a bit toward a memoir. Or several.
Small investments over a long time.
Sweeter.
More ease-ful.
Slower. For a while.
That rolling stone gathering much moss.
Ironically, now, as I’m months away from 50, I feel I have the luxury of time.
I’m basking in it.
In Joy,
Nneka
PS. Thanks for reading Letters from Nneka! If you feel inspired to be more consistent and stay in the arena, click the like button ❤️
Consistency!! More clear to me now than ever. Working on showing up more for myself in this stage of my life. Thank you for sharing this. I’m a writer who is hesitant on putting myself out there because of my history of inconsistency. Love this craft so that I don’t want to let myself down. This reminder, “I rely on consistency so much that I now measure success, not by attaining my end goal, but by whether or not I did the thing today to get me to my end goal."
Love this! "I rely on consistency so much that I now measure success, not by attaining my end goal, but by whether or not I did the thing today to get me to my end goal."