Keeping one’s self going is a difficult thing to do. There are a million distractions that occur every day and that can mean that we do not stay on track with what we should be doing.
Success isn’t always lost in a single moment. Sometimes, it slips quietly through the cracks — unnoticed, unchallenged, and unspoken — until one day you look up and realize: you’ve been drifting for years.
That’s what happened to me.
For two full decades, I lost the secret to the dazzling success I once tasted. Not because I wasn’t working hard. Not because I didn’t have dreams. But because I forgot the real reason I started in the first place.
This is the story of how I lost it — and how I began to get it back.
Chapter 1: The Bright Spark That Lit the Fire
I started my career like many people do — full of energy, ambition, and dreams that didn’t know how to sit still. I had early wins, breakthroughs, and moments that felt like magic. Success came quickly in those days. Not because I had all the answers, but because I had something more powerful: belief.
I believed in the work I was doing. I believed that I could grow. I believed that what I had to offer mattered.
That belief was the secret. It fueled action, attracted people, and made momentum inevitable.
But somewhere along the way, I stopped believing in quite the same way.
Chapter 2: The Silent Thief — Comfort
Here’s the thing no one tells you about success: it can lull you into stillness.
I became comfortable. I maintained rather than built. I focused on not failing rather than aiming higher. I stopped challenging myself the way I once had. And I told myself I was “busy” — but really, I was avoiding the hard questions.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was slowly trading growth for safety. That’s how I lost the secret. It wasn’t a dramatic fall — it was a quiet drift.
And 20 years passed like a blink.
“The secret to dazzling success was never out there. It’s been inside you all along — waiting for you to come back and claim it.”
Matt Mullenweg, 2017
Chapter 3: The Wake-Up Call
It wasn’t until I hit a wall — mentally, emotionally, professionally — that I realized what I had lost.
I looked around and saw people doing work that lit them up. Building, evolving, reaching. And I saw myself… maintaining.
That’s when it hit me:
Success isn’t just about where you are — it’s about who you’re becoming.
And I hadn’t been becoming anyone new for a very long time.
Chapter 4: Relearning the Secret
So, I started over. Not from scratch, but from truth.
I asked:
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What do I really want?
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What scares me that I’ve been avoiding?
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What would I pursue if I believed in myself again?
And from those questions came a quiet spark — familiar, but forgotten.
I began building again. I challenged myself. I read. I took uncomfortable actions. I dared to dream bigger, even with the sting of lost time behind me.
That spark turned into action. That action turned into momentum. And slowly, the secret began to return.
Not in the same way — but deeper, wiser, and more resilient.
