PP 177: Do the Work & Suck Butt Now to Grow—There Are No Cheat Codes!
Any chance you’re a gamer?
I’ve played PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Dreamcast, Sega, and almost every console in between.
However, my favorite memories growing up are of religiously playing the OG Red, Blue, and Yellow Pokemon on the GameBoy Color (specifically the Yellow Pikachu tribute edition).
I played the hell out of that game and know it inside and out.
There was that Missingno cheat glitch you could encounter by surfing up and down Cinnabar Island.
This hack allowed me to get infinite Rare Candies and Master Balls to level up my squad, destroy the competition, and catch all biggest and baddest Pokemon.
I want to make ONE thing super clear: I played the game all the way through like 10 times before I found and leveraged that cheat code.
I put in the work to unlock mastery of that game.
And that’s what today’s episode is all about:
Accepting that there are no cheat codes to unlock your creative breakthrough.
Investing the time and energy to get the results you want.
True growth and success come from putting in the work.
We’re driving home the importance of persistent patience with this one.
TV Dinners & Creative Dreams
So if you were a gamer like I was, imagine how rad it would be if all those cheat codes we memorized as a kid carried over into our creative pursuits?
It’d be pretty dope, right? (Or would it?)
It's a tough pill to swallow that breakthroughs don't magically manifest in 2 minutes like those 10 for $10 Frozen Banquet TV Dinners (those are gross BTW).
Yet, so many creatives want immediate results when they haven't paid their dues.
The old me would disagree with what I’m about to say, but the more experienced-woke me understands...I'm glad there's no magic pill, secret formula, or snake oil hack to unlock overnight success.
Why? Because true growth is baked into the persistent grind.
Think about it, to advance to the next level of a game, you have to navigate complex puzzles and beat the shit out of bosses that stand in your way.
Parallel this to your creative grind. Each day you have to overcome obstacles: beating the inner critic, learning new skills, nurturing clients, handling the back end of the business, etc.
When you master each level, it feels freaking good because YOU EARNED IT.
As you continue to advance, you learn hacks, tricks, and new strategies. That way, if you happen to revisit a previous level or circumstance, you already know how to handle it.
You Gotta Suck Butt in the Beginning
I’m showing my age saying this, but imagine playing the old school Nintendo Super Mario for the first time and attempting to leverage the skip worlds teleport hack?
Now you find yourself sucking butt (figuratively, not literally) at this advanced level because you didn't invest the time to learn how to properly play and grow.
Not only do you suck, but you can’t appreciate the cheat code because you didn’t earn it.
It's hard to appreciate something when you don't have skin in the game—you’ve bypassed the cost of entry.
It's like the jerk who had their college paid for so they skip school to party and bullshit.
They don’t feel the friction of flushing their parents/grandparents’ hard-earned money down the toilet—as opposed to those who paid for their own schooling.
Or compare it to that free eBook you downloaded that's collecting dust buried in a second-level desktop folder.
You didn't pay for it, so it doesn’t “hurt” when you don't use it.
But you’ll pay for it once you’re thrown into the real world at an advanced level and sucking major butt.
I’d rather suck butt upfront and grow rapidly vs. sucking major butt down the road because I took the easy path.
Do The Fucking Work
To truly appreciate it, you gotta earn it (and it's not supposed to be easy).
There are no cheat codes. DO THE FUCKING WORK.
Advancing to the next level tastes so much sweeter when you earned it.
It's all about playing the long game to unlock results. 🔓
Keep playing the game and enjoy the process. You got this! ✌🏻
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Music - Blookah
Executive Assistant - Paige Garland
Photo & Video Specialist - Colton Bachar
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