Enthusiasm is Common

Enthusiasm is Common. Endurance is Rare.

          

Sociologist Josh Morgan. conducted a rather interesting study on the number and status of podcasts on iTunes from 2005–2015.

Here are some key highlights:

• About 200,000 individual podcasts were created, with about 5,000 new ones added every month since then.
• The average podcast had 12 episodes, about 2/month for 6 months.
• Most podcasts never receive even one rating.
• A mere 40% of podcasts are still active.

The point is this:

Enthusiasm is common.

Endurance is rare.

People start things all the time — but they rarely “finish” them.

What Really Matters

“Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity.” -Bruce Lee

In her groundbreaking book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Angela Duckworth explains an interaction between herself and a young man who had a dream of starting a podcast for entrepreneurs.

This college student declared he would stop at nothing to create, produce, and sustain this new podcast. But Duckworth pressed him about what would happen if he lost motivation or became tired by the project.

The younger student simply replied he would just start another podcast.

The young man believed this was what mattered — the relentless drive to simply create “another” project when he began to lose interest.

But the real value lies in endurance with what you’re working on, now.

What really matters is staying with a project even after the initial honeymoon flush of motivation wears off.

This is where most people quit. Departing to chase another rush of the feel-good dopamine of starting something new, they leave behind another unfinished project in their wake.

Another new project. Another loss of motivation. Another towel thrown in. Repeat.

Enthusiasm is common — everyone starts something. A blog, a podcast, an Etsy shop, a diet, a New Year’s resolution.

But endurance — actually following those projects to completion — is rare.

Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity. This is what truly successful people excel at — staying committed when they get bored, lonely, unmotivated, or discouraged.

The truth is, these are the feelings that accompany success.

Everything worth having is on the opposite of pain, hard work, and struggle.

The extent of your success is directly related to the extent of your willingness to endure pain.